WASHINGTON, DC (Sept. 14, 2023): Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court urging the Supreme Court to accept an important case on how excessive deference to federal regulators harms small businesses. Courts have long granted wide latitude to executive branch agencies when they enact rules, under so-called “Chevron deference.” This has enabled the growth of the regulatory state and imposed tremendous costs on American small businesses in the process.
As SLF explains in its amicus brief, at its founding, the regulatory burden weighing down small businesses has reached the point that it is a significant detriment to entrepreneurs. It has grown significantly in recent decades, and courts have unfortunately enabled this growth by largely standing aside and allowing the agencies to determine the limits to their own powers. This harms not just American businesses, but also our system of government. America was designed to keep the powers of government divided. When questions surrounding agency authority reach the courts, legal questions ought to be considered by the courts without any judicial deference for the governmental party.
Director of Litigation Braden Boucek states, “The beating heart of America is small business success. A new generation of Americans are rising who hope to achieve their idea of the American dream. The biggest obstacle to their success should not be regulatory barriers. It is time for courts to start reigning in the agencies.”
SLF and other groups have called for the overturning of Chevron for years. In another case where SLF filed an amicus brief, the Supreme Court stands poised to do just that.
Download press release.