In a ruling rejecting a charter boat regulation that invoked “Harry Potter” references, Republican-appointed judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit took swipes at U.S. Supreme Court precedent requiring deference to federal agencies’ interpretations of statutes.

At issue in the case was a regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce requiring charter-boat owners to install a GPS location monitoring device on vessels used for either commercial or personal purposes.