11th Circuit deems fishery council’s veto powers unconstitutional

Filed 7h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Waltz (Tschikovsky Op. 40)

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Dasfour2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A unanimous 11th Circuit panel ruled that the veto powers held by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council violate the Constitution's appointments clause, because they let an unelected regional council overrule the commerce secretary with no appeal.

The case began when Florida seafood dealers Dominick and James Russo challenged Amendment 56, a rule that cut gag grouper catch quotas by 85%, arguing the council that helped produce it had no constitutional standing to wield such power.

Despite agreeing the council's structure was unlawful, the court declined to void the grouper rule itself, reasoning the council's veto authority was never actually exercised in that particular case since the secretary independently adopted the council's advisory proposal.

Neither the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the Russos, nor the federal agencies involved responded to requests for comment.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A court can tell you the fence was built without a permit and still let the fence stand, and that is about the size of this ruling. The council's whole veto setup gets condemned in writing, and the grouper limit it helped birth sails on completely undisturbed. It is the kind of victory where you win the argument and lose the fish.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Waltz (Tschikovsky Op. 40) · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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