RDP Analysis Finds 21 Court Whisperer-Backed Groups Urged SCOTUS To Kill Chevron Doctrine

The Supreme Court today issued a landmark pro-corporate ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, ending 40 years of judicial humility (aka, “Chevron regulatory deference”). In a 6-3 ruling along ideological lines, the Court opened the floodgates for individual activist judges from Leonard Leo’s pipeline to invalidate hundreds of crucial civil rights, education, climate, consumer, health care, and worker protections based purely on the political preferences of their corporate benefactors.

A Revolving Door Project analysis found at least 21 right-wing groups who filed briefs in the Chevron cases had ties to corporate court-whisperers like Charles Koch, Leonard Leo, and Paul Singer. These include leading conservative think tanks and litigation groups like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Manhattan Institute, and New Civil Liberties Alliance. Understanding their role also sheds light on the ideological flip-flopping on Chevron of Clarence Thomas, a Justice not otherwise known for changing his mind.

Read RDP’s analysis of amicus brief filers in Loper Bright and Relentless.

For more on the right-wing moneyed interests influencing the Supreme Court through amicus briefs, check out SupremeTransparency.org, a project of Revolving Door Project, True North Research, and Take Back The Court.