Advancing American Freedom led a coalition of 15 other amici in filing an amicus brief in RMS of Georgia v. EPA, urging the Supreme Court to take up the case and begin to restore constitutional limits on Congress and the Executive Branch. In this case, Congress sought to delegate power to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sufficient to allow the agency to reorder national markets and pick winners and losers. Under the Constitution, Congress must make important legislative decisions itself, not pass them off to the Executive Branch.
In this case, a small business that invented and patented a form of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerant is challenging an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the EPA in the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020. The AIM Act delegates to the EPA the unilateral power to allocate HFC production allowances as if it were a legislature with no direction from Congress as to how to distribute those allowances.
Article I of the Constitution does not empower Congress to pass off its powers to the Executive Branch. This principle is well established in constitutional law and known as the nondelegation doctrine. It is past time for the Court to stop the buck-passing and make Congress do its job
“To preserve the liberty of the people, the Constitution divides the powers of the federal government among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The long-established principle, known as the nondelegation doctrine, has often received inadequate enforcement from the Supreme Court,” said AAF General Counsel J. Marc Wheat. “This case provides the Court with a clear opportunity to begin to revitalize the nondelegation doctrine, and with it, the Constitution’s limits on the federal government powers. We hope the Court will take up this case.”