Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Inc., 535 U.S. 81, 3 (2002)

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102

RAGSDALE v. WOLVERINE WORLD WIDE, INC.

O'Connor, J., dissenting

that where reasonable minds may differ as to which of several remedial measures should be chosen, courts should defer to the informed experience and judgment of the agency to whom Congress delegated appropriate authority." 411 U. S., at 371-372.

Just as the fact that the Act provides for certain sorts of notice does not preclude the Secretary from providing for other sorts, the fact that the Act provides for certain remedies does not tie the hands of the Secretary to provide for others. The Court's argument to the contrary seems to be based on something like the maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius—that Congress' decision to provide for one remedy indicates that it did not intend for the Secretary to have authority to create any others. Because of the deference given to agencies on matters about which the statutes they administer are silent, Chevron, 467 U. S., at 843, however, expressio unius ought to have somewhat reduced force in this context. See Texas Rural Legal Aid, Inc. v. Legal Servs. Corp., 940 F. 2d 685, 694 (CADC 1991). For example, in Mourning, this Court deferred to the agency's decision to impose a set fine on lenders who violated a regulation, rejecting the argument that, because the Truth in Lending Act provided for one sort of remedy, the agency lacked authority to impose any other sort of penalty. Although the penalty was set in an amount equal to the minimum fine set forth in the statute, it clearly went beyond the statute's remedial scheme, which required that damages be set in an amount related to the lender's finance charge. Cf. ante, at 92. In so holding, we stated:

"[T]he objective sought in delegating rulemaking authority to an agency is to relieve Congress of the impossible burden of drafting a code explicitly covering every conceivable future problem. Congress cannot then be required to tailor civil penalty provisions so as to deal precisely with each step which the agency thereafter finds necessary." 411 U. S., at 376.

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