A NationalRetail Federation petition to the Supreme Court Monday claimeddebit card interchange rates represent an issue of staggeringimportance.

The NRF, along with three other retail associations and tworetail firms, said it wants the Supreme Court to hear an appeal ofa March ruling that upheld the Federal Reserve's debitinterchange rule.

“There's so much at stake here for U.S. retailers and theircustomers that we have no choice but to pursue this case as far aspossible,” NRF Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mallory Duncan said in a prepared statement about the appealeffort. “When a federal agency blatantly disregards the clearintent of legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by thepresident, that's a dispute that cannot be ignored.”

Retailers have argued the Fed ignored legislative intent when itdeveloped a debit interchange rule to implement the Durbinamendment, a portion of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law thatcapped debit card interchange for larger asset debit issuers andsought to foster more competition for debit transactionprocessing.

“The rule's importance will only continue to grow,” theretailers argued in their request. “From 2003 to 2012, the numberof debit card transactions tripled – from 15.6 billion to 47billion annually; between 2009 and 2012, debit card transactionsgrew at an average rate of almost 8% annually … if this courtdenies review, then the rule's validity will be finallyestablished. This case, which presents the only challenge to therule, is the ideal vehicle to resolve the rule's validity.”

It is unclear whether the Supreme Court will hear the appeal ofthe decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit,legal observers said. One leading credit union regulatory expertwho declined to speak on the record observed the issue lacksconflict among different appeals courts or a controversy in law asis common with cases the highest court accepts.

“The retailers have to establish that some untested or new partof the law needs to be addressed by the Supreme Court, and that'sgoing to be difficult,” the expert said.

If the Supreme Court accepts the case, it will announce theacceptance sometime in the fall, according to the court'swebsite.