House lawmakers this week will consider ways to rein in the “administrative state,” a term favored by Republican critics of the network of executive branch agencies like EPA that carry out the president’s policy goals.
Among the witnesses that will appear Tuesday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform and Antitrust is Rick Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprise, a manufacturing company that in 2023 won a Supreme Court fight against the power of federal agencies to handle their own legal matters internally.
In Axon v. Federal Trade Commission, the justices opened the door to legal challenges against the use of in-house judges, which are used at agencies like EPA, the Interior Department and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Tuesday’s hearing comes as the Trump administration is expected to launch a widespread rescission of Biden-era regulations, including safeguards against air and water pollution and climate change.
