Continued; Chevron Deference and Cattle Ear Tag Mandate

Today concludes a two-part series on USDA Electronic ID cattle ear tag rule and the overturning of Chevron Deference. R-CALF, United Stock Growers of America, CEO Bill Bullard explains in detail how overturning Chevron Deference could impact the mandate for forced RFID tags

“Taking the ID rule, for example, we think it is unreasonable for the sector of agriculture to claim that a statute that authorizes it, the Animal Health Protection Act, authorizes the Secretary to present the introduction and spread of foreign animal diseases in the United States, and the USDA is taking that statute and saying that is a congressional authorization to mandate exclusive use of radio frequency identification your tags on adult cattle. And we think that that rule is ripe for litigation as a result of the overturning of the Chevron deference.”

The Chevron Deference is a doctrine as a result of the court deciding in 1984 that judges should defer to federal agencies in interpreting ambiguous parts of statues, the idea was that if Congress passes a law where something is unclear or there is a gap, it is up to an agency to fill the gap. Now that it has been overturned, the issue of reasonableness will now be argued in a court of law and a judge will decide if indeed, RFID, tag use, and cattle is reasonable.