Posts by Liam Childers

Last month, Americans for Prosperity Foundation (“AFPF”) hosted a special summit marking the two-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s momentous decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.  The event was well attended, and registrants spent a half-day listening to experts explore how Loper Bright is driving the Trump Administration’s regulatory agenda and giving Congress the opportunity to reassert its Article I authority and rethink its relationship with the administrative state.  While most public debate about Loper Bright understandably has focused on developments…

In Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit recently flagged an interesting impact Loper Bright might have on administrative law. Judge Henderson’s opinion suggests the possibility that, after Loper Bright, the Chenery doctrine—which holds that “reviewing courts ‘must judge the propriety of [agency] action solely by the grounds invoked by the agency’”—may not apply to “pure statutory interpretation questions.” This question matters because in challenges to agency decisions like federal regulations and adjudications, to the extent the Chenery doctrine applies it…

Earlier this spring, in Rutherford v. United States, the Supreme Court held the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s interpretation of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1) was inconsistent with the underlying statutory text, and that nonretroactive changes in sentencing law could not qualify as “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to justify early release.  That decision, and its explanation of the principles that limit the Commission’s delegated authority, accentuates how Loper Bright v. Raimondo now binds every agency—including the Commission.   In her opinion for the majority, Justice Barrett…

The Departments of Interior and Commerce announced the finalization of a rule rescinding regulations issued by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service that had dramatically expanded the scope of the Endangered Species Act to potentially criminalize conduct and private land use decisions Congress did not statutorily authorize the Services to reach. The announcement explains that “[t]his reform is based on the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo[.]”  The Services concluded that their regulations were not the best reading of…

In a recent Politico interview, when asked about a “fundamental shift” in the focus of the Environmental Protection Agency under his tenure, Administrator Lee Zeldin highlighted how the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is paramount to his decision-making.