OPINION:
Many people no doubt believe that Senate Democrat Joe Manchin III is the West Virginian who will have the greatest influence on national policy and the federal government in the coming years.
Maybe. Maybe not.
He has strong competition from Patrick Morrisey, the attorney general of West Virginia. Mr. Morrisey is one of the leaders of a loose-knit group of Republican attorneys general who are challenging a series of actions (or inactions in the instance of border security) of the federal government under its current management.
On Monday, he will appear before the Supreme Court when West Virginia v. EPA is argued. The case will likely determine who gets to interpret the meaning of statutory language — agencies, the courts or Congress — and what, exactly, are the limits of agency authority with respect to the statutes they execute.
Appearing before the Supreme Court is an impressive achievement. Few attorneys ever do so; fewer still are involved with cases of genuine, generational importance. Mr. Morrisey’s personal history suggests that he is likely to ultimately triumph.
He worked his way through college and law school holding a variety of jobs, including being a professional tennis umpire. In college, he worked the finals of the U.S. Open as a linesman. He describes it as an “unbelievable and enjoyable learning experience.”
After law school, he opened his own firm, sometimes needing side hustles to make ends meet. But he kept working hard and climbed the legal ladder; a turn as a staffer on Capitol Hill, partner at prestigious law firms, and ultimately, in 2012 being elected the first Republican attorney general in West Virginia in 80 years.
Like most people worth knowing, Mr. Morrisey is intensely grateful for his unique American journey: “I feel very fortunate. I’ve had to work pretty hard to get where I’ve gotten, but I’ve been very appreciative for my experiences.”
We should be grateful for his experiences, especially those as a health care attorney and policy expert. He was an essential ingredient in court rulings striking down the Occupational Safety and Health Administration vaccine mandate under President Biden.
In West Virginia v. EPA, he will argue that federal courts should limit the deference they currently show to agencies in the interpretation of the statutes they execute. Agencies will always seek to interpret the laws they implement in ways that expand their authority, power and funding. This phenomenon is most acute in those instances where Congress has ceded an unwise amount of discretion to agencies and their presumed “expertise.”
Mr. Morrisey — the former linesman and umpire — wants to make sure that agencies stay inbounds and that the laws are defined and interpreted by those who make them in Congress or those who should interpret them in the courts. He describes it succinctly: “We think when a federal agency wants to take action and regulate on a matter of major economic, political, or social significance, it needs to obtain a clear statement from Congress about the nature of its authority.”
As a practical matter, a validation of this approach (called the “major questions doctrine”) would reorient (in a good way) federal regulation toward congressional intent and away from agency overreach. It would, in short, alter the balance of power in the federal government.
Mr. Morrisey is, as he should be, focused on the task at hand. But it is impossible to avoid the obvious. He has won statewide in West Virginia three times, each time with a larger margin (in 2020 he received 64% of the vote). He raises money as well as anyone in the state. In 2018, he lost by 19,000 votes to Mr. Manchin (who won with just 49.6% of the vote).
When people are grateful Mr. Manchin does the right thing, it is important to remember he does the right thing politically mostly if not entirely because he knows Mr. Morrisey is home in West Virginia, working and preparing for whatever comes next.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the president of MWR Strategies. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House. He can be reached at mike@mwrstrat.com.
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