Associations Applaud Overturn of Chevron Deference

On June 28th, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which limits the ability of federal regulators to interpret federal laws. Several industry associations issued the following statements:

(NAW) The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) applauds the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which effectively overturns the Chevron deference.

Eric Hoplin, President and CEO of NAW, issued the following statement in response to the decision:

This decision reaffirms the importance of checks and balances within our government. It ensures that agencies do not exceed their intended authority and that courts take a more active role in interpreting laws. This decision brings much-needed clarity and fairness to the regulatory process, benefiting businesses and the economy as a whole.

For too long, the Chevron deference has granted regulators wide-ranging and overreaching power to interpret ambiguous provisions in congressional statutes, effectively allowing them to create laws without proper legislative oversight. This practice has often led to regulatory overreach, stifling business innovation and economic growth. On July 24, the NAW Legal Policy Center filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in Loper Bright, urging reconsideration of Chevron Deference.

 

(NAHB) Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a custom home builder from Wichita, Kan., issued the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo that limits the ability of federal regulators to interpret federal laws:

[Today’s] Supreme Court ruling is an important step forward to advance meaningful regulatory reform because it means that federal agencies can no longer continuously change the law – and the intent of Congress – by implementing their own interpretation of statutes as long as the interpretation is viewed as being ‘reasonable.’

This verdict overturns a previous decision made by the nation’s highest court decades ago that gave the government an unfair advantage when someone challenges a regulation in court. In 1984, the Supreme Court issued an opinion that created ‘Chevron Deference,’ which gave federal agencies wide latitude to interpret laws and implement regulations that were deemed reasonable. [Today’s] ruling that overturns Chevron means that federal agencies will now have less discretion to impose new regulations that Congress did not clearly authorize.

(NAM) The United States Supreme Court overruled the Chevron doctrine—a requirement that federal courts defer to an administrative agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute—that had proven unworkable and incoherent.

The legal and regulatory landscape has transformed in the blink of an eye. Manufacturers will not waste a moment in seizing this opportunity—an opportunity that we have never seen before—to leverage this decision to rein in the regulations that are holding back manufacturers from improving lives,” said National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons. “The NAM Legal Center and our best-in-class advocacy team will be on the field, leveraging this decision and the new tools it gives us, to fight back new regulations we are facing today as well as whatever may come our way in the next administration. For anyone who wants to see manufacturing grow and succeed in America, today heralds the possibility for a much brighter future.

“[Today’s] ruling is a game changer for manufacturers as Chevron was at least partly to blame for the unpredictability and overreach that have become synonymous with the modern regulatory state,” said NAM Chief Legal Officer Linda Kelly. “We are hopeful that this marks the end of an overbearing regulatory system that had become complex, and compliance in many cases that was contradictory from agency to agency. For the past 40 years, Chevron has tipped the scales in favor of unelected officials and against the regulated public. Now the onus is on Congress to provide clear guardrails and guidelines in its intent to ensure that laws are implemented in a manner that achieves their goal. Manufacturers are eager to work with lawmakers to develop policies that promote innovation, job creation, economic growth and improved quality of life for all Americans.”

“Manufacturers have been the subject of a regulatory onslaught, with agencies’ far-reaching decisions affecting companies of all sizes,” said NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram. “The EPA, SEC and DOL—the aggressive nature of rulemaking and enforcement actions that exceed authority come from the alphabet soup of regulators. The NAM has been successful in fighting key rules in court, and [today’s] decision gives us the ability to challenge even more actions while ensuring future agency actions do not exceed the authority mandated by Congress.”