Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Twism Enterprises v. State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors asking the Ohio Supreme Court to end the practice of judicial deference to government agencies’ interpretation of law. The filing of this merit brief follows the jurisdictional brief The Buckeye Institute filed in November 2021 asking Ohio’s high court to hear the case. 

“Federal courts often defer to government agencies in how an agency interprets administrative laws and rules. That unfortunate practice—which has come under increasing scrutiny by judges throughout the country—has been applied by Ohio courts as well,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. “The problem with granting this deference is that it allows administrative agencies to act as their own judge and jury in questions relating to their statutory authority, which is inconsistent with the principle of separation of powers enshrined in the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.”  

Twism Enterprises v. State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors was filed by the Pacific Legal Foundation and challenges a lower court ruling that said courts should defer to the board’s interpretation of a law governing engineering certifications. Although the law is silent on whether an engineer must be an employee of a company to receive certification, the board deemed that an engineer must be an employee and refused certification of Twism’s project engineer who was an independent contractor. The court of appeals deferred to the board’s interpretation without conducting its own analysis of what the law required. 

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UPDATE: On December 29, 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court agreed with arguments The Buckeye Institute made in its amicus brief and ruled that Ohio does not recognize mandatory deference to administrative agencies.