HR 1605 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2025
To amend title 5, United States Code, to clarify the nature of judicial review of agency interpretations of statutory and regulatory provisions.
Summary
The bill amends the Administrative Procedure Act to change how courts review agency interpretations of laws and regulations. It requires courts to review all legal interpretations de novo (fresh and independently) rather than deferring to agency interpretations, including questions involving constitutional and statutory provisions and agency-made rules. The bill applies this standard to any judicial review of agency action under any law and specifies that this requirement cannot be exempted except by specific reference to this section. This change would eliminate the current Chevron doctrine, which allows courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, and instead require courts to make their own independent determinations about what laws mean.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
3 cosponsors
- Rep. Cline, Ben [R-VA-6] (R-VA)
- Rep. Onder, Robert [R-MO-3] (R-MO)
- Rep. Tiffany, Thomas P. [R-WI-7] (R-WI)
Actions (4)
- May 21, 2025 Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 15 - 12. · house
- May 21, 2025 Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held · house
- Feb 26, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. · house
- Feb 26, 2025 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 26, 2025
Mr. Fitzgerald introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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 Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2025” or the “SOPRA”.
SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY INTERPRETATIONS.
Section 706 of title 5, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking “To the extent necessary” and inserting
“(a) To the extent necessary”;
(2) by striking “decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and”;
(3) by inserting after “of the terms of an agency action” the following “and decide de novo all relevant questions of law, including the interpretation of constitutional and statutory provisions, and rules made by agencies. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this subsection shall apply in any action for judicial review of agency action authorized under any provision of law. No law may exempt any such civil action from the application of this section except by specific reference to this section”; and
(4) by striking “The reviewing court shall—” and inserting the following:
“(b) The reviewing court shall—”. <all>
Comments