Senate subcommittee probes how Congress should act after Supreme Court ended Chevron deference

A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on regulatory affairs heard bipartisan testimony on how Congress should respond after the Supreme Court ended Chevron deference in the June 28, 2024, decision Loper Bright v. Raimondo.

The hearing made clear that lawmakers face competing demands: write statutes that are specific enough to survive judicial review while preserving agency flexibility to apply technical expertise. "That era is now over," Chairman James Lankford said, describing the Supreme Court ruling that removed Chevron as a routine path for agencies to have courts defer to their readings of ambiguous statutes.

Why it matters: Agencies implement nearly every federal law; courts and witnesses warned that courts will now be asked to reach the "best reading" of statutes rather than defer to agency interpretations. Senators said that change could affect public health, consumer safety and economic rules if Congress does not adapt its drafting and oversight.

Three witnesses—Representative Allyson Schwartz, Professor Susan Dudley and Professor Chaz Scrutieri—offered overlapping recommendations: clarify legislative purpose and authority; bolster congressional drafting capacity and expertise; require agencies to be more transparent about factual assumptions and…