New Senate bill aims to codify Chevron deference with congressional intent

Following Republican attempts to revisit and rein in regulations in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to end a four-decade legal precedent known as the Chevron deference, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has penned new legislation re-establish agencies’ legal deference when interpreting federal statutes.

Wyden introduced the Restoring Congressional Authority Act on Thursday, with the bill aiming to clarify both agency and congressional intent in interpreting law and statute. 

The legislation comes after the Supreme Court’s June 28 ruling in Relentless and Loper Bright v. Commerce Department, which struck down the 1984 precedent that allowed courts to defer to agencies when interpreting ambiguous statutory language.

The new bill would restore the Chevron deference by amending the Administrative Procedure Act — which governs how agencies develop regulations — to include judicial deference to federal agencies. 

It would also require courts to include congressional intent when reviewing an agency’s interpretation of a statute and provide a method for Congress to overturn appellate court decisions to invalidate an agency rule, similar to powers in the Congressional Review Act. 

Though the demise of the Chevron deference was the result of a Supreme Court ruling, Wyden said in a statement Friday that the blame rested on what he called “MAGA judges” favoring former President Donald Trump. 

“At every turn, MAGA judges are hellbent on dragging our country backwards,” he said. “With the help of Republicans in Congress, Donald Trump spent his time in office packing our nation’s highest courts with right-wing extremists willing to legislate from the bench. From the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies to health care, the climate crisis, and everything in between, these MAGA judges are doing the bidding of special interests who want to rip away our fundamental freedoms. Our country is founded on checks and balances, and it’s time to restore that balance by putting a much-needed check on the federal judiciary.”

The Loper Bright ruling has already sparked GOP bills calling for oversight and clarification of agency regulations from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as well as letters from House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., calling for reviews of current regulations. 

Likewise, Democrats have put forth other bills that sought to preserve the Chevron deference, including Rep. Jayapal Pramila’s, D-Wash., Stop Corporate Capture Act and the Senate version of the bill, on which Wyden is a co-sponsor with Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Peter Welch, D-Vt.

Wyden’s bill was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.