Sponsors (4)
Edits the text and structure of 5 U.S.C. § 706, removing a clause about courts deciding "all relevant questions of law" and relabeling subsections, with unspecified inserted language.
The bill aims to clarify and make agency review more predictable for regulated parties and courts, but does so at the cost of reducing and creating uncertainty around judicial oversight—potentially making it harder for individuals and governments to challenge agency actions.
Financial institutions, state and local governments, and regulated entities: Narrows and clarifies how courts review agency actions, making agency decisions more predictable for regulated parties and reducing regulatory uncertainty for those who must comply.
Federal courts and court staff: Creates a clearer statutory structure for judicial review of agency procedures, reducing procedural ambiguity for courts and federal employees who administer or appear in such cases.
Taxpayers and middle-class families: Limits on the scope of judicial review could make it harder to challenge unlawful or harmful agency actions, leaving some agency decisions less checked by courts.
State and local governments (and parties who litigate against agencies): Striking the phrase that let courts “decide all relevant questions of law” may reduce courts' ability to fully review legal questions presented by agency actions, weakening judicial oversight.
Financial institutions, state and local governments, and regulated challengers: Because the new inserted text is unspecified, standards of review could be expanded, narrowed, or otherwise altered in unpredictable ways, creating legal uncertainty for parties contesting agency decisions.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend title 5, United States Code, to clarify the nature of judicial review of agency interpretations of statutory and regulatory provisions.
Introduced February 26, 2025 by Scott Fitzgerald · Last progress February 26, 2025
Revises the statutory text and structure of 5 U.S.C. § 706 (the judicial review standard in APA cases) by adding subsection labels, removing a clause that directed reviewing courts to “decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions,” and inserting unspecified language after an existing phrase; it also relabels the sentence that begins “The reviewing court shall—” as a new subsection. The changes are formatting plus selective deletion/addition of language in the statute; no new deadlines, funding, or other statutes are added in the provided excerpt.