Austin News

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Ranking Member of the Constitution Subcommittee, issued a statement today regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.

"Today, the Supreme Court put an end to ‘Chevron deference,’ a precedent the Court set in 1984 which has allowed unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to wield enormous power in deciding how to interpret the law, and shifted decision making from democratically elected members of Congress to the permanent bureaucracy. The result has been a massive expansion of the regulatory state. The Court did the right thing in returning decision making to elected members of Congress the way the Constitution envisioned it."

The case involved federal 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, despite no such requirement being imposed by Congress. Sen. Cruz led an amicus brief arguing that "Chevron deference," which allows courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous statutes, violates legal principles.

Senator Cruz was joined in his amicus 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.). Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La) led the amicus brief in the House of Representatives.

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