Cite as: 510 U. S. 355 (1994)
Thomas, J., dissenting
ter, interpretation of the term, to which the Court will defer if it is a permissible construction of the Act.5 Ante, at 368, n. 14. Given that the Act sets no standards for "reasonableness," ante, at 366, it is difficult to imagine how the Secretary's interpretation could be an impermissible one. Indeed, although the Court seems to assume that the standard would be at least as rigorous as the one it applies here, presumably the Secretary could, in the exercise of his expertise, devise a more permissive standard. Under the Court's analysis, there is no reason to assume that the Evansville standard is a minimum. If the Act imposes the comprehensive regulation of the reasonableness of airport charges that the Court sees, it would certainly constitute a clear expression of Congress' intention to displace the dormant Commerce Clause in this area, see Maine v. Taylor, 477 U. S., at 139, in which case the Secretary would be free to regulate either more or less restrictively than would the dormant Commerce Clause. Cf. Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U. S. 130, 154 (1982). I simply find nothing in the AHTA that gives the Secretary such unbridled discretion to regulate all airport user fees.
III
Because the AHTA does not, in my view, apply to the fees in this case, it does not foreclose petitioners' challenge under the dormant Commerce Clause.6 The courts below, how-5 The Secretary of Transportation has not so far promulgated any regulatory standards for judging reasonableness under the Act. Although that fact is not directly relevant to our inquiry, it is surprising, if the Act means what the Court thinks it does, that the Secretary has not done so in the 20 years since the AHTA's enactment.
6 Nor, in my view, does the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 (AAIA), 49 U. S. C. App. § 2210, foreclose dormant Commerce Clause analysis here. Although the AAIA places a variety of conditions on federal funding of airports, some of which relate to user fees, it imposes no flat prohibitions, and therefore does not make " 'unmistakably clear' " that it is intended to displace the dormant Commerce Clause. Maine v. Taylor, 477 U. S. 131, 139 (1986). Moreover, this Court in Evansville held
381
Page: Index Previous 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007