The Supreme Court just delivered a massive win for motorized public land advocates and users

On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling overturning the Chevron deference doctrine, fundamentally altering the way courts handle agency interpretations of statutes. This decision stemmed from the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). NMFS had imposed a $700 daily fee on a small family-owned fishing company for monitoring, despite lacking explicit legal authorization from Congress. The NMFS relied on Chevron deference, which allowed agencies to interpret ambiguous statutes, expecting courts to defer to their expertise.

Chevron deference, established in the 1984 Supreme Court case Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., permitted courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. This principle gave agencies leeway in shaping regulations based on the idea that agencies are better equipped to make regulatory decisions due to their “expertise.”

Impact of Overturning Chevron Deference

The far-reaching impact of Chevron deference on administrative law is immense and cannot be fully stated in a single post. Chevron deference allowed federal agencies to make regulations with considerable flexibility. This principle enabled the ATF to outlaw a piece of plastic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require vaccines and masks, and public land managers to apply travel management rules to all motorized vehicles.

By overturning Chevron deference, the Supreme Court has restricted the power of public land management agencies to interpret laws expansively. Agencies now must rely on clear and explicit statutory authorization for their actions, leading to increased judicial scrutiny of agency regulations. This change is expected to roll back many regulatory actions previously justified under the broad interpretations allowed by Chevron deference.

Future of Travel Management Rules

Under this new ruling, travel management rules written into federal regulations should be revisited to better align with Executive Order 11644. This Executive Order directs federal land managers to establish trails and areas for off-road vehicle use. It defines off-road vehicles (ORVs) as motorized vehicles designed for or capable of cross-country travel on various terrains. However, it does not apply to regular automobiles such as SUVs, trucks, cars, and RVs, which are manufactured to meet safety standards set by the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Chevron deference allowed federal land managers to extend the Order’s influence over all motorized vehicles, leveraging laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Taylor Grazing Act to justify their regulations. Moving forward, motorized access advocates should recognize the original intention of Executive Order 11644 and push for strict compliance with its provisions. This means discarding the current travel management plans in favor of pre-1980s management approaches that designate areas as open, limited, or closed to cross-country travel without impacting existing roads and trails.

This approach is a fair compromise that most of the 4×4 community can support. Open the gates and stay on the trail!