It has been a whirlwind of a couple of weeks for agricultural law.  Here is a quick rundown of some of the biggest stories in the news.

Photo via Plains Cotton Growers

*Federal government lifts boundary limitations on Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge.  The US Department of the Interior has lifted boundary limitations on four wildlife refuges across the country, including the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge here in Texas.  This will allow these refuges to expand their acreage.  Importantly, the acquisition of any additional acreage will be voluntary and will not be taken by force or eminent domain.  Plains Cotton Growers published a great article explaining what is going on with this issue.

*United States Supreme Court overrules Chevron deference.  The United States Supreme Court has done away with the concept of Chevron deference.  In a 6-3 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, authored by Chief Justice, John Roberts, the Court overruled Chevron.  Chevron came about in 1984 and offered courts a method of analyzing challenges to agency actions.  Under Chevron, if an agency action was challenged, and the court found that Congress was unclear or ambiguous in its statutory instructions to the agency, the court was to defer to agency expertise so long as it was a permissible construction of the statute.  Going forward, this type of deference will no longer be given to agency interpretations of statutes.  Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented.  I will work up a full blog post on this decision in the coming weeks.

*US Supreme Court will not approve settlement in Texas v. New Mexico water lawsuit.  The United States Supreme Court has rejected a proposed settlement between Texas and New Mexico in a water law dispute involving the Rio Grande.  At issue is the fact that the  United States, an intervenor in the lawsuit, does not agree with the settlement.  In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that because the settlement would dispose of the United States’ claims without the US’s approval, it could not be approved.

*USDA proposed new regulation under Packers and Stockyards Act.  The USDA recently published a new proposed regulation that would make it easier for producers to raise certain claims like deceptive contractual terms, retaliation, and other unfair business practices, against large companies.  In particular, the proof a producer would be required to make in such a case would be changed by this rule.  Currently, a producer must show a harm to the marketplace to succeed on this claim.  Under the proposed rule, the producer would need only show harm to his own business.  The comment period is open through August 27, 2024.

*Mini Hereford Junior Nationals.  After seeing my out-of-office email response last week, some of you have asked me how the kids did at Junior Nationals.  I am happy to report they had a bang up week.  We brought home awards for the Champion Pre-Junior Showman, Grand Champion Market Steer, Champion Junior Sales Talk, Champion Junior Photography, Reserve Champion Junior Public Speaking, Reserve Champion Pre-Junior Sales Talk, and Reserve Champion Pre-Junior Photography.  Thank you for your patience as I try to dig out from all of the emails I came home to!

Upcoming Presentations 

I’ve got a number of presentations coming up later this summer.  I hope to see many of you on the road!  To see a complete list of my upcoming presentations, click here.