Alito suggests chance to rein in federal agency power

WASHINGTON (AP) - With one sentence Thursday, Justice Samuel Alito signaled his willingness to throw out the Supreme Court's 84-year-old record of support for the broad powers of federal agencies, which reaches back to the New Deal.

Alito's comments and a dissenting opinion from another three conservative justices cheered people who have long dreamed of using the courts to rein in unelected bureaucrats and worried those who fear the court's conservative majority will make it harder to enforce environmental and public health laws.

The opinions came in a case in which the court was being asked to strike down a provision of the federal sex offender registration law on the argument that Congress gave too much power to the attorney general to decide who should have to register.