Senator Ted Cruz
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, filed a Supreme Court amicus brief in the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) led the amicus effort in the House of Representatives. Senator Cruz is joined on the brief by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken.) and Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
In Loper Bright, the federal government enforced regulations requiring a family fishing company not only to allow a fishing monitor onboard their ship, but also forced them to pay the salary of this monitor, even though the law passed by Congress imposed no such requirement. In his amicus brief, Sen. Cruz argues that the doctrine of “Chevron deference,” whereby courts defer to an agency’s own interpretation of an ambiguous or unclear statute, violates Articles I, II, and III of the Constitution. “Chevron deference” precedent arose from the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in the Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. case. Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo gives the Supreme Court opportunity to revisit and reverse this undemocratic doctrine.
Sen. Cruz said:
“Chevron deference allows unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to wield enormous power in deciding how to interpret the law. Over time, it’s proven to be a harmful precedent because it shifts decision making away from democratically elected members of Congress to the permanent members of the bureaucracy. As a result, we’ve seen a massive expansion of the regulatory state. I’m hopeful that at least five justices will agree to overturn Chevron and return decision making to elected members of Congress the way the Constitution envisioned it.”
Rep. Johnson said:
“This case has the potential to deliver one of the most consequential decisions in a half century. Chevron deference violates both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution and has resulted in a dramatic increase in the size of the federal government. We are very hopeful the Supreme Court will overturn Chevron and restore the balance of power between our three, coequal branches of government.”
Background:
Sen. Cruz has consistently led the fight in defending the Constitution. During the Supreme Court’s last term, Sen. Cruz filed amicus briefs in the Groff v. DeJoy, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina cases. In each of these cases, the Supreme Court agreed with Sen. Cruz and upheld religious liberty, First Amendment speech rights, and 14th Amendment Equal Protection rights, respectively.
