After landmark Chevron ruling, could workplace safety agency OSHA be the next Supreme Court target?
OSHA survived challenges in 1978 and 2011. But this case could find a receptive audience in the court’s conservative supermajority. Some justices believe Congress delegates too much.

Maureen Groppe
USA TODAY
Published 5:04 a.m. ET June 30, 2024 | Updated 7:49 a.m. ET June 30, 2024

WASHINGTON – It's long been a conservative dream: shrinking the federal government. And on Friday, part of the dream came true: the Supreme Court tossed a 40-year principle that boosted the power of government regulators on environmental, labor and other laws. ... Could the federal agency that sets workplace safety rules be the next target? ... The Supreme Court may decide this week whether it will hear a challenge to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The case, pushed by business and conservative groups, and by Republican attorneys general, argues Congress violated the Constitution more than 50 years ago when it gave a federal agency − OSHA − the power to regulate workplace safety and fine companies when they endanger their workers.

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The challenger in the OSHA case, Allstates Refractory Contractors, is represented by Don McGhan, who was President Donald Trump’s first White House counsel and played a top role in his Supreme Court nominations.



Police and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigate where a worker fell off the construction site of a new bank building on Tuesday, May 12, on Minnesota Ave. in Sioux Falls.
Erin Bormett / Argus Leader, Erin Bormett / Argus Leader Via Imagn Content Services, LLC

A falling catwalk brace injures a worker. The penalty is $5,967

In 2019, OSHA issued a penalty against Allstates after a catwalk brace fell and injured a construction worker. Allstates agreed to pay a penalty of $5,967 but then took OSHA to court, arguing that Congress improperly told the agency it could set safety rules for virtually every business in America. ... “If there is any case in which the Court should stand up for the principle that Congress, not agencies, must write major rules affecting the American people, this is it,” McGhan told the Supreme Court. ... The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.

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Amicus Briefs
Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC v. Su