| 1 | 1 | | II |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 33 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend title 5, United States Code, to clarify the nature of judicial |
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| 6 | 6 | | review of agency interpretations of statutory and regulatory provisions. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY8, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. S |
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| 10 | 10 | | CHMITT(for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. PAUL, Ms. ERNST, |
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| 11 | 11 | | Mr. B |
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| 12 | 12 | | UDD, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mrs. BRITT, and Mr. HAGERTY) intro- |
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| 13 | 13 | | duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- |
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| 14 | 14 | | mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs |
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| 15 | 15 | | A BILL |
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| 16 | 16 | | To amend title 5, United States Code, to clarify the nature |
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| 17 | 17 | | of judicial review of agency interpretations of statutory |
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| 18 | 18 | | and regulatory provisions. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Separation of Powers 4 |
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| 23 | 23 | | Restoration Act of 2025’’ or ‘‘SOPRA’’. 5 |
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| 24 | 24 | | SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF STATUTORY AND REGU-6 |
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| 25 | 25 | | LATORY INTERPRETATIONS. 7 |
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| 26 | 26 | | Section 706 of title 5, United States Code, is amend-8 |
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| 27 | 27 | | ed— 9 |
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| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S33.IS S33 |
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| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •S 33 IS |
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| 31 | 31 | | (1) by striking ‘‘To the extent necessary’’ and 1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | inserting ‘‘(a) To the extent necessary’’; 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (2) in subsection (a), as so designated— 3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (A) by striking ‘‘decide all relevant ques-4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | tions of law, interpret constitutional and statu-5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | tory provisions, and’’; 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (B) by inserting after ‘‘of the terms of an 7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | agency action’’ the following ‘‘and decide de 8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | novo all relevant questions of law, including the 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | interpretation of constitutional and statutory 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | provisions, rules made by agencies, and inter-11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | pretative rules, general statements of policy, 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | and all other agency guidance documents. Not-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | withstanding any other provision of law, this 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | subsection shall apply in any action for judicial 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | review of agency action authorized under any 16 |
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| 47 | 47 | | provision of law. No law may exempt any such 17 |
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| 48 | 48 | | civil action from the application of this section 18 |
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| 49 | 49 | | except by specific reference to this section’’; and 19 |
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| 50 | 50 | | (3) by striking ‘‘The reviewing court shall—’’ 20 |
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| 51 | 51 | | and inserting the following: 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | ‘‘(b) The reviewing court shall—’’; and 22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | (4) by striking ‘‘In making the foregoing deter-23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | minations’’ and inserting the following: 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S33.IS S33 |
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| 56 | 56 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 57 | 57 | | •S 33 IS |
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| 58 | 58 | | ‘‘(c) In making the foregoing determinations’’. 1 |
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| 59 | 59 | | Æ |
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| 60 | 60 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jan 31, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S33.IS S33 |
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| 61 | 61 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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