Economic Policy
Supreme Court ignites wave of lawsuits against federal regulations
Major businesses cited a trio of pivotal rulings from June in a bid to invalidate a vast array of federal climate, education, health and labor rules.

By Tony Romm
October 27, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

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. ... The moves underscore the lasting significance of the justices’ findings — and the risks to President Joe Biden’s signature economic policies — ahead of an election in which the two candidates have presented starkly different visions for the future of federal regulations.

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.

Since then, the three separate yet intertwined rulings have influenced a groundswell of litigation, particularly from conservative and corporate interests that chafe at the power of the federal bureaucracy. Between June and mid-October, the cases have factored into more than 150 new or ongoing legal challenges, according to court records analyzed by The Washington Post and data amassed by Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy group that had urged the Supreme Court to rule differently. The new citations include new and updated lawsuits, briefings and rulings.

The lawsuits touch on virtually every aspect of the U.S. economy, especially federal labor law. Major companies including Amazon and SpaceX, and leading lobbying groups for restaurants and other industries, have incorporated elements of the new Supreme Court decisions into a range of lawsuits against regulations on wages, overtime pay, whistleblower protections or union organizing, court records show. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Post.)

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By Tony Romm
Tony Romm is the economic policy and accountability reporter at The Washington Post. follow on X @tonyromm