Congressional Democrats are trying to overturn one of the greatest Supreme Court victories of this year! The Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overruled the so-called “Chevron Deference” rule from a prior 1984 case, ridding our nation of a gross overreach by unelected bureaucrats cloistered in federal agencies endlessly expanding the regulatory state.

This federal plague has ended! Now we need to undo the damage that agencies — the FDA, DOE, EPA, IRS, and a host of others — have done.

But congressional Democrats are pitching a royal fit and introduced a bill to codify the 1984 “Chevron Deference” rule. HR 1507 and S 4749, both the “Stop Corporate Capture Act,” would revive the regulatory state. This is a huge battle with massive implications. I will share some shocking information.

Democrats in both the House and Senate have nearly 90 cosponsors to bring back this federal overreach. Giving deference to federal agencies has allowed them to usurp the authority of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of government. It is imperative we stop HR 1507 and S 4749. Below I’ll explain more fully, but first Congress needs to hear you.

Demand that Congress stop HR 1507 and S 4749. There are only three branches of government — not four. Send your critical faxes now!

Let me demonstrate just how far this overturned ruling allowed our federal government bureaucrats to go, and why it is so critical to stop this bill. Under Chevron, if statutes were ambiguous or silent on certain matters, courts were required to “defer” to federal agencies’ interpretations. This broad “deference” led to countless abuses of federal power. Below are just a few of these ridiculous interpretations:

• A family fishing company, Loper Bright Enterprises — which overturned the Chevron case — was told they had to spend up to 710 dollars per day for “observers aboard their vessels as part of an industry-monitoring program” because, supposedly, the “National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) required it,” but the law only “authorized the NMFS to require [observers in] certain categories” and NOT the type that Loper Bright operated.

• On a South Dakota farm, temporary snowmelt causing an 8-inch puddle every year was declared by the Department of Agriculture “to be a protected wetland,” which allowed the department to prohibit the owner from farming his land.

• The Department of Labor (DOL) determined that a truck repair shop was under “coal mine” regulations. A federal regulator from the DOL’s Mine Safety and Health Administration came “looking for two trucks cited during an inspection miles away” and decided to fine the family-owned trucking company over 8,000 dollars “for repairing trucks without putting blocks around the wheels.” While this family-owned trucking company “maintains, and repairs trucks independently that are occasionally hired to haul coal, the repair shop’s property is neither on a mine nor attached to one, as the closest mines are several miles away. The business argued its “trucks and repair shop are not a ‘mine’” but under the old Chevron doctrine, the judge ruled with the agency’s argument that “even though the trucks being repaired were not hauling coal or driving on a haul road, just being parked at a repair shop makes both the trucks and the maintenance yard a ‘mine’ subject to federal regulation.” With Chevron overturned, they will now “get a fair day in court."

• Under Biden-Harris, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) decided it would expand abortion access by interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to include abortions "among pregnancy-related conditions covered by the [Act]” — to the dismay of some GOP lawmakers who supported the bipartisan bill. (Thankfully, employers in Louisiana and Mississippi got a federal judge to pause this ruling. Due to overturning Chevron, the courts now will almost certainly decide in favor of life.)

• The Department of Justice and the Department of Education reinterpreted Title IX, designed to protect women from discrimination based on sex in education, to include gender identity — requiring, in an ironic twist, “biological males to participate in women’s sports, change and shower in women’s locker rooms, and use the bathroom in women’s facilities.” Bureaucrats turned this on its head and demanded the opposite of what the bill was passed to do.

These are just a tiny handful of thousands of situations where federal bureaucrats run roughshod over Americans. These federal rules have been stretched to impact virtually every aspect of life, the food we eat, the cars we drive, the air we breathe, and the homes we live in. There is almost nothing that Chevron didn’t impact negatively.

We cannot risk going back under Chevron again. I need you to act now. Legislators must hear LOUD opposition to these bills. We cannot let weak Republicans cave on this issue and risk this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Call on Congress to block this bill immediately.

The truth is that Chevron crippled our economy and our liberty.

Because the Chevron case gave near total discretion to federal agencies, “[t]here are hundreds of thousands of pages of laws and regulations.” Administrative agencies are publishing thousands more new rules every year. According to the Federal Register’s office, “the number of final rules published each year is generally in the range of 3,000-4,500.” Small businesses cannot keep up.

Americans who have been choked with regulations are finally getting the chance to breathe. We cannot let Democrats put us back under this tyranny. Help Liberty Counsel Action fight back against these bills. Give your gift today for freedom and to support our staff standing in the face of these coordinated attacks against our freedom. Donate today through our Challenge Grant to DOUBLE the impact of your gift.

Mat Staver, Chairman
John Stemberger, President
Liberty Counsel Action

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Sources:

“Fighting Bureaucrats’ Nonsensical Claim That Trucks Can Be Mines.” Pacific Legal Foundation, July 8, 2024. https://pacificlegal.org/case/kc-transport-scotus-chevron-mining-safety-act/.

Fitzhenry, Jack, and Caleb Sampson. “After Chevron, a New Birth of Deference for the Administrative State?” The Heritage Foundation, August 15, 2024. Heritage.org/courts/commentary/after-chevron-new-birth-deference-the-administrative-state.

H.R.1507 - Stop Corporate Capture Act.  U.S. House, March 9, 2023. Congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1507.

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Supreme Court of the United States, June 28, 2024. Supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf.

Olson, Alexandra, and Claire Savage. “Judge rules that federal agency can’t enforce abortion rule in Louisiana and Mississippi.” Associated Press, July 3, 2024. Apnews.com/article/abortion-ruling-pregnant-workers-fairness-act-01d037364fc6ecdf5975bdaa2240b3f7.

“What Is Title IX?” Thomson Reuters, July 20, 2023. Legal.thomsonreuters.com/blog/what-is-title-ix/.