FIRST ON FOX — In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that stripped authority from federal agencies in legal battles, Senate Republicans are launching a new “major” effort to curb even more the power of the “administrative state.”
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of East Coast fishermen who sued a federal agency that mandated they pay $700 for daily “at sea monitors,” arguing that the government’s rule is out of the bounds Congress set for the federal agency.
In doing so, the high court overruled what is known as the Chevron doctrine, which is a legal theory established in the 1980s that says if a federal regulation is challenged, the courts should defer to the agency’s interpretation of whether Congress had granted it authority to issue the rule as long as the agency’s interpretation is reasonable and Congress had not addressed the question directly.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., called the Supreme Court’s decision “a critical blow to the disastrous Chevron deference standard and represents an opportunity for Congress to retake legislative power from agencies and dismantle the administrative state.”
The Supreme Court voted, 6-3, to overrule the decades-old Chevron doctrine. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images/File)
On Thursday, Schmitt and a group of 11 GOP lawmakers announced new legislation he says will “retake legislative authority away from administrative agencies” and give it back to Congress. Schmitt is also spearheading a working group of 18 of his colleagues to further assess ways Congress can peel back administrative authority.
That bill, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA), places what’s called a de novo standard of review within the Administrative Procedure Act, that would prohibit the judiciary from continuing any unconstitutional agency deference standards, which Schmitt says stacks the deck in court against private parties and in favor of big government.
Under the new bill, courts will weigh the merits of the argument without a deference standard to either side, which Schmitt says would place U.S. citizens and businesses — either caught on the wrong side of a regulatory enforcement action or challenging the validity of agency action — on an equal footing in court with an administrative agency.
A similar bill passed earlier this Congress along a party-line vote. The Senate’s version so far has 11 co-sponsors.
In addition, a wider group of GOP senators are sending letters to 101 executive agencies that have published over 50 final rules since the year 2000.
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Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In the letters, the senators intend for more information on ongoing rulemaking, civil enforcement actions, and adjudications by said agencies and how the Supreme Court’s decision impacts all of those actions moving forward, so that the lawmakers can better conduct oversight.
“The Constitution is clear: decision-making powers lie with the democratically-elected members of Congress, not unelected bureaucrats,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wy.
“For far too long, the Chevron doctrine gave this administration carte blanche, empowering President Biden’s agencies to pander to its far-left base and drown the people of Wyoming in a sea of regulations. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, I am partnering with my colleagues to take the necessary steps to restore legislative powers to the people and finally put these runaway agencies back in their place,” she said.
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East Coast fishermen successfully sued a government agency they said was unconstitutionally regulating their business. (New Civil Liberties Alliance and Cause of Action)
Schmitt is also spearheading a working group of 17 of his colleagues that will meet regularly with the hopes they can assess how to best limit the “unlawful exercise of power by the administrative state, and how the Senate can more effectively legislate on matters that regularly would’ve been left up to agency deference.”
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“For far too long, the deck has been stacked against citizens while these all-powerful alphabet soup agencies run roughshod. Congress has abdicated its duty to legislate to nameless and faceless bureaucrats at agencies dotted around D.C. – it’s time to take that power back and return to a truly representative government,” Schmitt said.