Amicus Briefs
Young v. State of Hawaii
CASE SUMMARY
NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in George K. Young, Jr. v. State of Hawaii, et al. in support of Mr. Young. NCLA’s brief urged the full Court against deferring to state administrators’ factual speculations and to their interpretations of the U.S. Constitution or of state statutes and regulations. It also warned of constitutional problems that would come with granting deference to state administrators’ statements of law and of fact, asking the en banc Court to empower trial courts and juries to perform traditional factfinding functions, and interpret statutory text using all available traditional tools of construction.
The panel majority declined to give Turner deference—a deference doctrine that requires federal courts to give substantial deference to Congress’s predictive facts. NCLA’s brief urged the Court not to so defer.
NCLA’s amicus brief also argued that federal courts should decline to defer to the state administrators’ interpretations of state statutes under Chevron or Auer doctrines because such deference is unconstitutional. It requires judges to abandon their duty of independent judgment in violation of Article III and the judicial oath, and it violates the Due Process Clause by commanding judicial bias toward a litigant.
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NCLA Amicus Brief Discourages Ninth Cir. En Banc Court from Deferring to State Administrators’ Interpretations of U.S. Constitution, State Statutes and Regulations
June 5, 2020 | Read More