Senator Coons, colleagues introduce bill to reverse Supreme Court’s decision extending time limit to challenge federal regulations

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) introduced a bill to reverse the Supreme Court's recent decision that significantly extends the length of time plaintiffs have to challenge federal regulations. The Agency Stability Restoration Act would reverse the court's decision in Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, issued earlier this month. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) cosponsored the legislation.

"The flawed decision by the Supreme Court's conservative majority in Corner Post reverses decades of settled administrative law," said Senator Coons. "The court's ruling will make it more difficult for federal agencies to keep our water and air clean, ensure that corporations play by the rules, and protect Americans from dangerous products. I encourage my colleagues to heed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's call in her dissenting opinion to reverse this decision and restore the regulatory stability that small businesses owners, consumers, and all Americans need to thrive."

"The latest Supreme Court term showed the power that special interests and big corporations have over this court's conservative majority," said Senator Durbin, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "The Corner Post decision was wrongly decided, guts the ability of federal agencies to implement longstanding and popular programs, and undermines clear congressional intent. Our bill reverses this decision, and it will let agencies do their jobs without the threat of years of endless, unnecessary legal challenges from self-interested actors. The Senate should pass it expeditiously."

"The Corner Post decision is yet another example of the far-right Supreme Court majority's insatiable appetite for power," said Senator Hirono. "This legislation would reverse this decision, reestablishing the longstanding statute of limitations that required companies challenging agency regulations - which protect hardworking Americans and their families - to do so within a reasonable period of time."

"The Corner Post decision is destabilizing and destructive to our nation's public agencies and their ability to defend the public good against an onslaught by big corporations and special interests," said Senator Blumenthal. "This critical legislation establishes clear, fair rules of the road so public agencies can protect everyday Americans and our nation's small businesses from attacks on rules that safeguard consumers, workforce, and environment."

"The Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post makes long-existing agency regulations vulnerable to endless legal challenges, making it harder for public agencies to protect everyday Americans," said Senator Booker. "The Agency Stability Restoration Act of 2024 will reverse this flawed decision and ensure that federal agencies can continue to do their job and create rules that safeguard the American people, their businesses, and the environment. I urge my colleagues to quickly pass this important legislation."

"The Corner Post decision is the latest assault in this captured Supreme Court's campaign to overturn settled administrative law for corporate special interests," said Senator Whitehouse. "Our legislation would prevent frivolous challenges to federal agencies' efforts to put the health and safety of the American people before the wants and needs of big corporations."

"The Corner Post decision is just another example of this activist Supreme Court's broken priorities, placing far-right ideology over decades of judicial precedent," said Senator Welch. "In addition to undermining Congress' intent in the Administrative Procedure Act, this decision endangered the safety of hardworking people and their families. Our bill would reverse the disastrous Corner Post decision and reinstate crucial regulations that Congress put in place to protect consumers, small businesses, and the environment."

"The Supreme Court's Corner Post decision made Americans less safe by increasing litigation over regulatory safeguards and making it harder for federal agencies to protect the public," said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President, Public Citizen. "The Agency Stability Restoration Act of 2024 would prevent the disruptive impact of the Supreme Court's decision by reinstating a time limit for legal challenges to regulatory protections. If Congress does not act, longstanding regulations that have protected consumers, workers, our environment, and public health and safety for years, even decades, could be newly challenged by corporations that want to boost their profits at the public's expense."

"The Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post undermines the ability of our government to deliver for people," said Skye Perryman, President and CEO,Democracy Forward. "Justice Jackson's clarion dissent demonstrates that Congress has the power to correct the court majority's mistake through enacting legislation that protects longstanding federal programs and benefits and the ability of federal agencies to work for people, and that's exactly what the Agency Stability Restoration Act will do. The Corner Post decision could place everything, from our medication, to gun safety measures, to health care access, to public land and park protections, in jeopardy. As an organization that principally litigates on behalf of people and communities across the nation, we warned of the harms that would result to the nation's economy in a brief filed on behalf of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of small businesses and are encouraged, in light of the court's harmful ruling, by this new legislation. We are pleased, for the first time since our founding, to take the step of endorsing legislation. We are grateful for Senator Coons' leadership in introducing this important bill."

In Corner Post, the Supreme Court's conservative majority concluded that plaintiffs allegedly injured by agency actions could bring their challenges within six years of their injury, rather than within six years of final agency action, significantly extending the amount of time plaintiffs have to challenge regulations. This decision undermines public agencies' ability to create rules that safeguard everyday Americans and small businesses, as well as the environment, healthcare, and consumer welfare, by allowing a stream of legal challenges to those rules long after those rules were first promulgated, finalized, and litigated.

The Agency Stability Restoration Act would reinstate decades of precedent by reversing the court's decision, making clear that challenges to agency actions must be brought within six years after the challenged action was finalized.

The full text of the bill is available here.

Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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