Some have attempted to crowbar even more bespoke grievances about federal regulations into their arguments in Loper Bright. A group representing “electronic nicotine delivery system industry stakeholders”—the e-cigarette and vaping industry, in other words—complained that the Food and Drug Administration had used Chevron deference to ban flavored non-tobacco versions of their products. Even the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of nuns that successfully fought the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, chimed in. “Like the contraceptive mandate, the history of the transgender mandate amply demonstrates the negative impact of unchecked federal regulators on religious exercise,” the order told the justices in a friend of the court brief.
But the most noteworthy filing in Loper Bright isn’t from the parties themselves, but from a friend of the court brief filed on behalf of four Democratic senators. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Mazie Hirono, Dianne Feinstein, and Elizabeth Warren have been some of the most frequent critics of the conservative legal movement, its wealthy benefactors, and its influence on the high court. They argued that the case was not a genuine legal dispute but, rather, “the product of a decades-long effort by pro-corporate interests to eviscerate the federal government’s regulatory apparatus, to the detriment of the American people.”
“Special interests strategically file lawsuits challenging administrative rules and regulations, with coordinated mass filings of amicus curiae briefs, to convince courts to chip away at administrative agencies’ regulatory authority,” the senators argued. “Corporate interests funnel billions of dollars into think tanks, advocacy organizations, political elections, and judicial confirmations. They generate false information, ingratiate themselves with elected officials, and steer jurisprudence toward their deregulation goals.” In an unusual move, the senators also directly called out the other groups briefing the court for their conflicts of interest: