Opinion ID: 1969314
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Luck I and M.A.P. v. Ryan.

Text: The judiciary is the final authority responsible for deciding issues of statutory construction, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 843 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2781 n. 9, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984), for [i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177, 2 L.Ed. 60 (1803); see also Harris v. District of Columbia Office of Worker's Compensation, 660 A.2d 404, 407 (D.C.1995). Nevertheless, as we reiterated in Luck I a case in which, as here, the relationship between Sections 24-206 and 24-431(a) was at issue [t]his court accords great weight to any reasonable interpretation of a statute by the agency charged with its administration, and ... this is particularly true where, as here, we have a contemporaneous construction of a statute by the [agency] charged with the responsibility of setting its machinery in motion and making the parts work efficiently and smoothly while they are yet untried and new. 617 A.2d at 515 (quoting, inter alia, Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States, 288 U.S. 294, 315, 53 S.Ct. 350, 358, 77 L.Ed. 796 (1933) (Cardozo, J.)). I am at a loss to understand how, in light of M.A.P. v. Ryan , the majority regards itself as free to proclaim that no deference at all is due to the construction of the GTCA by the officials whose function it is to administer it. I find the explanation in the majority opinion to be quite unpersuasive. In Luck I, according to Judge Ferren, this court accorded great weight to the DOC's interpretation merely to buttress a conclusion we already had reached. Judge Ferren implies, in other words, that the great weight language was dictum and that we can disregard it at our caprice. With due respect, this is a serious misreading of our opinion in Luck I. In that case, we rejected a prisoner's contention that under the GTCA, he was entitled to credit for street time spent on parole prior to the effective date of the Act. In our unanimous opinion, which Judge Ferren joined, we stated in detail our reasons for refusing to accept the construction of the statute urged upon us by the prisoner. Luck I, 617 A.2d at 512-15. One of those reasons was that the DOC had construed the Act in a manner contrary to the prisoner's position, and that dispositive precedent required us to accord great weight to the agency's views. There is nothing in Luck I to suggest that the great weight discussion was less significant than any other portion of the opinion. Plainly, that discussion was not a mere add-on which we included just for fun. On the contrary, we explicitly factor[ed] into our calculus ... [the] administrative construction of the GTCA and its interplay with Section 24-206. Id. at 515 (emphasis added). Obviously, a point that was factored into our calculus, and was thus part of our holding, could not be dictum. It is not at all clear to me, and it cannot be clear to Judge Ferren, that in Luck I, the court would have reached the result that it did if the administrative construction had been to the contrary. [13] Judge Ferren also argues that even if Luck I requires us to give some weight to the executive construction of the GTCA, there is no reason for absolute obeisance. This is, of course, quite correct; the ultimate responsibility for construing the statute devolves upon this court. Chevron, supra, 467 U.S. at 843 n. 9, 104 S.Ct. at 2781 n. 9. But great weight means great weight, not an inconsequential milligram. The question before us is whether the interpretation of the GTCA by the District of Columbia officials who enforce it is a reasonable one. Id. at 845, 104 S.Ct. at 2783. In this case, those officials have construed the act in a manner consistent with its unambiguous language, and their construction is manifestly reasonable.