How Three New Jersey Fishermen Took on the Administrative State and Won

Americans for Prosperity (“AFP”) has published an article by AFP Foundation Senior Policy Counsel Ryan Mulvey that re-tells the story of Loper Bright with a focus on the plaintiff-fishermen, who stood up to what they took to be an egregious instance of government overreach.  The article is part of AFP’s “One Small Step” series, which is marking America’s semiquincentennial by exploring how the country’s founding principles apply to policy change movements.

Our history is filled with figures who have shaped society, culture, and politics in fundamental ways. We teach our children about heroic figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But America’s story hasn’t only been written by famous presidents or generals. It has often been written by everyday people who confront something unfair, refuse to stand by, and take one small step to fix the injustices they see. That’s what makes the fishermen behind the Supreme Court’s 2024 blockbuster case, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, so compelling. These fishermen weren’t chasing headlines; they were just trying to keep their way of life afloat.

The Loper Bright fishermen—Wayne Reichle, Bill Bright, and Stefan Axelsson—live in Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May is a small town at the southernmost point of the state often noted for its summertime beach crowds, bird watching, Coast Guard presence, and family-run fishing boats that have plied the waters of the Atlantic since the late 17th century. If you show up at one of the fishing docks in town before sunrise, you can watch crews moving swiftly about, preparing to head out in search of the day’s catch. Cape May’s fishermen are part of a heritage industry that once played a prominent role in this country’s economy. Decades of increasingly intrusive regulation have changed that.

Lawyers and jurists will rightly remember Loper Bright as a transformative moment in the history of administrative law, or how courts deal with lawsuits challenging federal agency action. Yet Loper Bright is really a story of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. Indeed, the overturning of Chevron deference depended, in a real way, on the Supreme Court recognizing the compelling human-interest story behind all the jargon and doctrine. At its heart, Loper Bright is a tale of the real-life impact of government overreach. It’s a saga about a few local entrepreneurs who cared about saving their family businesses and, ultimately, defending the principles of limited government that have animated this country since the Founding.