This week, House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters to the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Commerce and the Council on Environmental Quality, requesting documentation for how the agencies intend to comply with rulemaking guidance as handed down in the recent Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In part, Westerman wrote:

"The expansive administrative state Chevron deference encouraged has undermined our system of government, overburdening our citizenry and threatening to overwhelm the founders’ system of checks and balances. Thankfully, the Court in Loper Bright has now corrected its Chevron error, reaffirming that '[i]t is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.' This long-needed reversal should stem the vast tide of federal agencies’ overreach. Given the Biden administration’s track record, however, the Committee is compelled to underscore the implications of Loper Bright and remind you of the limitations it has set on your authority."

Read the full letters here.

Background

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo on June 28, 2024, in which it explicitly overruled Chevron and scaled back authority for federal agencies, reinforcing Congress's Article I legislative authority. Chevron had unleashed decades of federal agency overreach, leading to expansive interpretations of ambiguous statues. 

The Biden administration heavily relied on Chevron deference, issuing sweeping and intrusive agency mandates. Republican-led congressional committees are now exercising legislative and investigative powers to reassert Article I responsibilities and ensure the Biden administration respects the limits placed upon its authority by Loper Bright.