Columbus, OH – Robert Alt, The Buckeye Institute’s president and chief executive officer, issued the following statement following the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States declining to hear Garco Construction, Inc. v. Secretary of the Army—a case that challenged administrative state and federal government overreach.

“While we are disappointed that the Supreme Court chose not to hear Garco Construction, Inc. v. Secretary of the Army, we are encouraged by Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent, which was joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch in expressing that government agencies should not be allowed to be the judge of what their own rules mean,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer at The Buckeye Institute. “This is the exact point Buckeye raised in its amicus brief and their dissent reads as a challenge to bring more cases that would overturn ill-conceived Supreme Court precedent allowing for this kind of overreach. We say, Challenge Accepted!”

Justice Thomas’s dissent noted that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito previously have joined opinions suggesting that judicial deference to an agency’s legal interpretation of its own regulations should be reconsidered. By joining the dissent, Justice Gorsuch adds to that chorus seeking to reconsider this important question. Justice Thomas concluded by saying, the “Court has passed up another opportunity to remedy precisely the accumulation of governmental powers that the Framers warned against.”

Despite the setback in Garco Construction, The Buckeye Institute’s Legal Center will continue to pursue opportunities for the Supreme Court of the United States to remedy these kinds of administrative abuses.

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