Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/22-1008_1b82.pdf
Page Number: 31

Cite as:  603 U. S. ____ (2024) 

3 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring 

I 

Corner Post owns a truck stop and convenience store in 
rural North Dakota.  When a customer uses a debit card at 
its  business,  Corner  Post  must  pay  a  fee  (known  as  an 
interchange fee) to the bank that processes the customer’s 
transaction. 

As the Court explains, the Dodd-Frank Act requires the
Federal  Reserve  Board  to  “prescribe  regulations”  for
assessing  whether  interchange  fees  are  “reasonable  and 
proportional to the cost incurred” in processing a debit-card 
transaction.  15  U. S. C.  §1693o–2(a)(3)(A);  see  ante,  at  2. 
Pursuant to the Act, the Board has issued a rule that sets a 
maximum  fee  of  about  21  cents  per  transaction.    76  Fed. 
Reg. 43394, 43420 (2011).  For convenience, I will refer to 
that rule as the fee rule. 

Corner  Post  is  not  subject  to  the  fee  rule.    Corner  Post 
does  not  charge  interchange  fees  to  its  customers,  and 
Corner  Post  lacks  any  authority  to  set  those  fees.    But 
because  Corner  Post  must  pay  the  fees  to  banks,  it  is 
affected by the agency’s rule setting the maximum fees that
banks  may  charge.  In  particular,  Corner  Post  would  be 
harmed  by  a  fee  rule  that  allows  unreasonably  high  fees
and would benefit from a fee rule that more strictly limits
the fees that banks may charge. 

The APA authorizes any person who has been “adversely
affected or  aggrieved”  by a “final agency action” to obtain
judicial  review  in  federal  district  court.  5  U. S. C.  §§702, 
In  an  APA  suit,  the  district  court  “shall”  “hold 
704. 
unlawful  and  set  aside  agency  action”  that  is  “arbitrary,
capricious,  an  abuse  of  discretion,  or  otherwise  not  in
accordance with law.”  §706(2)(A).

Corner Post filed this APA suit because it believes that 
the fee rule allows banks to charge unreasonably high fees.
In particular, Corner Post argues that the Board’s 21-cent
fee  cap  is  unreasonably  high  and  therefore  arbitrary  and 
capricious under the APA.  Corner Post asked the Federal