The Supreme Court rules for a North Dakota truck stop in a new blow to federal regulations

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday opened the door to new, broad challenges to regulations long after they take effect, the third blow in a week to federal agencies.

The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of a North Dakota truck stop that plans to sue over a debit card scanning fee settlement that a federal appeals court in Washington upheld a decade ago.

Federal law sets a six-year deadline for broad regulatory challenges. In this case, the Federal Reserve’s regulations on the fees merchants must pay to banks when customers use a debit card went into effect in 2011.

The deadline for lawsuits over the regulation was in 2017.

Corner Post, a truck stop in Watford City in western North Dakota, only opened in 2018.

Still, a federal appeals court dismissed the appeal as too late.

The company appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration had asked the court to uphold the dismissal, otherwise government agencies would face endless challenges.

The decision could take on new significance in the wake of last week’s ruling that overturned the 1984 Chevron decision, which made it easier to enforce regulations across much of American life. The court also stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of an important tool to combat securities fraud.

Chief Justice John Roberts laid out the dilemma facing the court when the Corner Post case was argued in February. Agencies might face repeated challenges “ten years later, twenty years later” and “have to create the universe repeatedly, you know.”

On the other hand, Roberts said, “You have an individual or an entity that is harmed by something the government does, and you say, that’s just too bad, you can’t do anything about it because other people had six years to do something about it.”

The legal principle that everyone has a right to his or her day in court, Roberts says, “doesn’t apply unless someone else has had a day in court.”