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