Loper Bright ruling shifts interpretive burden to courts, witnesses tell House subcommittee

The Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries of the House Natural Resources Committee held an oversight hearing on March 3 to examine implementation of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the impact of the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.

The ruling ended judicial deference to agencies'interpretations of ambiguous statutes (the so-called Chevron deference), witnesses told members, placing a renewed burden on Congress to write clearer laws. "Now that that task has been accomplished, the Congress can reassert itself as the founders believed it would and should set the course for law and policies of the federal government in protecting, exploiting, and managing the nation's natural resources," said John Vecchione, senior litigation counsel,…