House votes to overturn Supreme Court ruling, targets federal agencies.

The House of Representatives Votes to Shift Regulatory Authority

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass a bill that could significantly shift federal regulatory authority away from the executive branch to Congress.

Lawmakers voted for the Separation of Powers Restoration Act, known as SOPRA, in a 220–211 vote. Most Republicans voted in favor of the measure, while most Democrats voted against it.

An analysis provided by the Congressional Budget Office (pdf) said the bill, HR 288, would authorize federal courts to review agency rules and “decide all relevant questions of law, including the interpretation of constitutional and statutory provisions and rules, without deferring to previous legal determinations by the agency.”

Under the bill, according to the analysis, “federal courts could overturn some agency decisions that they would have upheld under current law” and some of the “decisions could affect federal spending by overturning regulations that affect direct spending, revenues, and spending subject to appropriation.”

Restoring Constitutional Balance

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.), the sponsor of the measure, said that a 1984 Supreme Court ruling—Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.—which created the principle of “Chevron deference,” has essentially given the executive branch of the government significantly more authority than what he believes is warranted under the Constitution. He argued that federal agencies have essentially superseded Congress by using the Chevron doctrine, violating the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers clause.

“Since 1984, when the Supreme Court ruled that courts must defer to an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute rather than what Congress intended, the executive branch has begun usurping the legislative branch to issue regulations with the force of law,” Fitzgerald said Thursday. “It is certainly not what our founders intended.”

The lawmaker said that vast amounts of regulatory action have created unforeseen costs for ordinary Americans since the 1984 landmark ruling. “The total annual cost of regulation is almost $2 trillion, or about 8 percent of the U.S. GDP,” he stated. “If it were a country, for comparison, U.S. regulation would be the world’s eighth largest economy.”

“Government works best when it can be held accountable,” he added, claiming that “unelected bureaucrats” now possess “far more power than intended because of mandated deference, like Chevron, during judicial review.”

“Over the last few decades, and as accelerated during the Obama and Biden administrations, our Constitutional separation of powers has been undermined by Congress’ over-delegation of legislative powers to regulatory agencies in the executive branch,” Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) also said on the House floor, according to reports.

Over the years, courts have used the 1984 Chevron doctrine to say that they are giving deference to federal authorities when ruling on a measure. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a dispute between New Jersey fishermen and the federal government that could possibly lead to a ruling on the issue, according to some legal analysts.

While the bill has widespread Republican support and passed in the lower chamber, it’s unlikely to move forward in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Meanwhile, the White House has indicated that President