Amicus Brief to Support Review of Buffington v. McDonough

Statement

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, joined Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) in filing an amicus brief to support a review of Buffington v. McDonough before the Supreme Court.

In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refused to give Thomas Buffington the disability payments he had earned, and the U.S. Court of Appeals has since defended the VA's decision. In doing so, the Federal Circuit ignored court precedent and violated a long-standing practice of siding with the veteran when interpreting law.

The senators disagree with the Federal Circuit's decision and are supporting a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

"Rather than following Congress's instruction that the courts should interpret these laws, and should do so in favor of veterans, the decision below invoked Chevron deference to endorse an agency "interpretation' that disfavored veterans. By refusing to apply the pro-veteran canon at Chevron's first step, the lower court departed from the plain language of the statute and improperly placed the agency's view ahead of the established rule that any statutory ambiguities must be resolved in favor of the veteran," argued the senators.

Senators Cramer and Cotton are joined on the brief by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

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