Celebrating the One Year Anniversary of a Landmark Supreme Court Victory 

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo’s Legacy Empowers Courts, Congress to Reclaim Proper Constitutional Roles 

Washington, DC, June 27, 2025 — Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a transformative decision that ended four decades of Chevron deference.  By restoring to courts the duty to interpret the law and provide an independent judgment as to its best meaning, the Supreme Court helped realign the proper balance of power between Congress, the administrative state, and the federal judiciary. 

“The Loper Bright decision changed the landscape of administrative law.  It will be remembered as a watershed moment in Supreme Court jurisprudence,” said Ryan P. Mulvey, senior policy counsel at Americans for Prosperity Foundation and senior counsel at Cause of Action Institute.  “The Court was right to reiterate the Founders’ vision of judges—not bureaucrats—telling us what the law means.  The end of Chevron deference is an important step to helping us keep regulatory agencies in check and within the bounds of the authority given to them by Congress.” 

Over the past year, Loper Bright has influenced developments across the federal government.  Courts at the federal and state levels have cited the precedent in nearly 1,000 cases.  In some of the more impactful decisions, the new Loper Bright standard was used to invalidated the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules, and to reject the Food and Drug Administration’s novel attempt to regulate laboratory testing services as manufactured “devices.”   

Loper Bright has played a prominent role in the Trump Administration’s deregulatory agenda, too.  The Environmental Protection Agency pointed to Loper Bright as the basis for its reconsideration of a controversial “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases, and the Department of the Interior is using it to rescind a long-contested regulatory definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act.  President Trump even identified Loper Bright as one the principal bases for the DOGE deregulatory initiative kicked off by Executive Order 14219. 

And the end of Chevron deference has not escaped the attention of Congress either.  The “Post-Chevron Working Group,” led by Senator Eric Schmitt, published a lengthy report earlier this month detailing the importance of Loper Bright and how it can be leveraged by federal legislators to reclaim their Article I authority.  Former Senators Heitkamp and Martinez led similar efforts at the Bipartisan Policy Center, recommending practical solutions for a post-Chevron Congress. 

Despite these impressive developments, it is vital to remember the Loper Bright case was always about Atlantic herring fishermen threatened by an unlawful regulatory requirement that could force them to surrender 20 percent of their earnings to pay for at-sea monitors to ride their boats and watch them fish.  The government relied on Chevron deference to justify its controversial monitoring rule.  Yet, with Chevron overruled, the saga of the fishermen continues, and the fate of the industry-funding requirement hangs in the balance.  The D.C. Circuit considered the fishermen’s supplemental briefs and heard oral argument on remand last fall, and an opinion is expected in the near future.  “By returning interpretive power to courts, Loper Bright reaffirmed the separation of powers and the rule of law,” said Mulvey.  “Now, the real test is ensuring the fishermen aren’t left paying for regulatory programs with no firm statutory basis.”