Washington Post: Supreme Court Ignites Wave of Lawsuits Against Federal Regulations

Major businesses and their lobbying groups have seized on a set of recent Supreme Court decisions that sharply limit the government’s regulatory powers, aiming to advance dozens of lawsuits that could invalidate a vast array of federal climate, education, health and labor rules.

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In a closely watched case last term, the high court jettisoned a long-standing legal doctrine that had afforded agencies broad latitude to craft rules even without express instructions from Congress. The justices also restricted how certain federal watchdogs can pursue alleged wrongdoers, and they opened the door for some companies to launch new lawsuits over seemingly settled government rules — some of them decades old.

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Catherine Ruckelshaus, the general counsel at the pro-labor National Employment Law Project, described some of the litigation as “part of a really aggressive, multipronged broadside against the government’s ability to protect workers and other consumers, the environment, anything the government does.”

“We’re concerned about those cases and their implications,” she said.

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Read the full Washington Post story here.