Amicus Brief: Secretary of Labor v. KC Transport, Inc.

KC Transport, a family-owned trucking company operating in Virginia and West Virginia, was cited by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in 2019 after an inspector visited its Emmett facility—an off-mine repair yard servicing trucks occasionally hired to haul coal. Although the facility is not on or adjacent to a mine, MSHA cited it under the Mine Act, asserting jurisdiction on the theory that trucks used in mining remain subject to regulation regardless of location. KC Transport challenged the citations, and while an administrative law judge upheld them, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission reversed. The Secretary of Labor appealed, and a divided D.C. Circuit reinstated the citations, invoking the Chevron doctrine of judicial deference to agency determinations. KC Transport sought Supreme Court review and, with Chevron replaced by the less-deferential Loper Bright standard, SCOTUS sent the case back to the D.C. Circuit for reconsideration. MI’s brief, joined by the Cato Institute, builds on MI’s past scholarship concerning administrative overreach and past briefs encouraging courts not to be overly deferential towards largely unaccountable regulatory bodies.

Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.

Tim Rosenberger is a legal fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

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