ACS Hill: Dismantling Federal Agency Authority: The Impact of Recent Supreme Court Administrative Law Decisions on Congress’ Efforts to Protect the Environment, Workers, Consumers, and Small Businesses

For nearly a century, Congress has enacted legislation giving federal agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Environmental Protection Agency, broad grants of authority to craft rules and enforce the law to protect consumers and the environment, advance racial justice and women’s rights, safeguard workers’ rights, and ensure markets are free and fair. However, in recent years the Supreme Court has begun to restrict the ability of federal agencies to carry out their statutory mandates. Cases such as the 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, and this term’s Loper Bright v. Raimondo, SEC v. Jarkesy, and Corner Post Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System threaten to overturn decades of settled law regarding agency authority and frustrate the ability of agencies to execute their missions. This briefing will provide an overview of the recent court cases, highlight threats that these cases pose to progressive policy priorities, and opportunities to mitigate the Court’s attack on Congress’ legislative authority. RSVP: CapitolHillACS@gmail.com