The Big Dig Presents: Catching The Codfather Have we entered a new era for government regulation?
Mar 25, 2026
John Vecchione, senior litigation counsel at the New Civil Liberties Alliance who took fisheries cases to the Supreme Court. He recounts overturning the Chevron Doctrine and how that shifted judicial treatment of agency power. He explains choosing fishermen plaintiffs, strategic circuit filings to force review, and what major regulation fights may come next.
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How Chevron Gave Agencies Lawmaking Power
- Chevron Doctrine let agencies get deference when statutes were ambiguous, effectively letting administrations rewrite laws by interpretation.
- John Vecchione explains Chevron became the most-cited precedent after courts and agencies used ambiguity to shift regulatory meaning over decades.
Why A Fisherman Sparked A National Case
- Vecchione got involved after representing fisherman David Gathel against NOAA's rule forcing fishermen to pay government observers.
- The First Circuit flagged the issue as unsettled and Congress later funded observers for that fishery, sparing fishermen immediate payment.
How Lawyers Engineered A Supreme Court Fight
- Filing parallel suits in different circuits aimed to create a circuit split that would force Supreme Court review.
- Vecchione filed in the First Circuit while Cause of Action filed in D.C., which produced the split the Court took up.