Federal gov't sued by Texas farming associations for giving unelected bureaucrats too much power

Two conservative organizations are suing the United States government on behalf of Texas farming associations for giving too much power to unelected executive branch bureaucrats, resulting in overly burdensome standards on U.S. employers.

Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), a national, non-profit legal organization, and Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank, filed the lawsuit Wednesday “for unconstitutionally giving unelected bureaucrats in executive branch agencies the power to create boundaryless laws that impose burdensome and unsupported standards on all employers in the United States,” according to a press release. 

Filed on behalf of Texas International Produce Association and Texas Vegetable Association, the basis of their suit is that “Our Constitution clearly states that Congress makes our country’s laws, not executive branch agencies. Ignoring this basic principle of separation of powers, in the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) Congress gave the Secretary of Labor all of its powers to make safety standards for American employers. This was nothing short of a full abdication of its constitutional powers and obligations and has been referred to by Justice Thomas as what ‘may be the broadest delegation of power to an administrative agency found in the United States Code,’” the release further states. 

Chance Weldon, TPPF Director of Litigation, stated, “In our country, laws are supposed to come from Congress—not unelected bureaucrats. But for decades, Congress has essentially given its power to the executive branch. As a result, folks like our clients now labor under thousands of pages of obscure and costly regulations that most people have never read, and no elected representative has ever voted for. It’s time for the courts to make Congress do its job.”

The case brings to mind the June 2024 Supreme Court decision overturning the so-called Chevron doctrine, which for decades had led judges to largely defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of a law when the language was ambiguous, thus strengthening the power of unelected bureaucrats.