Senate Republicans are intensifying efforts to limit the power of federal agencies following a recent Supreme Court decision that curtailed agency authority in legal disputes. The decision, which favored East Coast fishermen challenging a federal agency's rule on at-sea monitoring fees, overturned the long-standing Chevron doctrine.
The Chevron doctrine, established in the 1980s, mandated courts to defer to agency interpretations of congressional authority unless Congress had directly addressed the issue. In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Sen. Eric Schmitt and a group of GOP lawmakers introduced the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPRA) to shift legislative authority from agencies back to Congress.
