Republican Party calls for agency regulatory overhaul after Supreme Court strikes down Chevron doctrine

The Supreme Court’s decision last month to strike down a long-standing doctrine that gave regulatory agencies broad authority to set rules for covered entities has prompted the Republican Party to call for a slew of regulatory overhauls.

The ruling gave courts much more power. “In the future, if an agency’s action is challenged in court, courts will continue to defer to the agency’s authority if it was properly delegated by statute. However, if the law is ambiguous, courts will now be able to decide whether the agency acted within its statutory authority—rather than defer to the agency,” according to Fisher Phillips.

Justice Elena Kagan predicted in her dissenting opinion that on June 28 Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo in a case where the majority decision “will cause a huge shock to the legal system.”

The Supreme Court sent nine cases back to lower courts, abandoning the so-called Chevron doctrine. Now, House Republicans are calling on federal agencies to begin reviews of regulations that could be affected by the decision.

Last week, Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) introduced a bill aimed at limiting the agency’s regulatory scope.

“This week, House Republican committees are sending letters to appropriate federal agencies to request a review of various far-reaching regulations in our fight to free the American people from a power-hungry administrative state,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Wednesday. “Agencies cannot be allowed to operate freely without any checks on their authority—we have already seen how often federal agencies abuse their authority. We intend to ensure that agencies are held accountable when the courts order them and that they abide by the proper checks on their authority.”

The letters were signed by the chairmen of three House committees — Education and the Workforce, Oversight and Agriculture — and addressed to the heads of the Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies.

Lawmakers requested lists of existing regulations that have been challenged in court since 2021 and were upheld under the Chevron Rule, as well as pending regulations that were defensible using the Chevron Rule.