With help from Daniel Lippman K STREET POISED FOR POST-CHEVRON SURGE: Friday’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision striking down the decades-old Chevron doctrine, which gave federal agencies significant leeway to interpret old or unclear statutes, will give Washington’s lobbyists much more influence over federal rulemaking. It will also put a lot more on their plates — Leah Dempsey, co-chair of the financial services practice at law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, said the ruling will “create a lot more work for trade associations, K Street and law firms.” — “There’s gonna be a lot of need for subject matter experts both at the agencies and in Congress,” said Dempsey, who suggested a hiring spree on K Street is imminent. “People are going to need to outline very specifically how folks can move forward in effectuating any changes through rulemaking or through legislation.” — Friday’s ruling means courts will no longer be required to defer to agencies’ “reasonable” interpretations of “ambiguous” federal laws. That will allow judges to throw out regulations far more easily across a range of issue areas, including the environment, health care and the financial sector. And lobbyists will now be on (at least) an equal footing with agency experts when arguing in court over the legality of existing rules. — “The overturning of Chevron means that in many cases, industry’s interpretation of the law will be viewed as just as valid as the agency’s,” Varu Chilakamarri, partner at law firm K&L Gates, said in a statement. She added that the ruling will likely provide “more opportunities for the regulated community to challenge agency rules and adjudications.” — The news of Chevron’s demise sparked celebrations across K Street on Friday. “Returning policymaking authority to the elected representatives of the American people is a major victory for our Constitution and the separation of powers in our country,” Chris Iacovella, president and CEO at the American Securities Association, said in a statement. Sheila Warren, chief executive of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said the “tide is turning for the role and firepower of regulators like the [Securities and Exchange Commission].” — Ed Stewart, senior partner at Washington lobbying firm Prism Group, hailed SCOTUS’ Chevron ruling as “the Constitution at work.” In a statement, Stewart called it “one of the most consequential decisions in several decades,” and claimed it “will have a direct impact on highly regulated industries and how the advocacy world engages with Congress and regulators.” — Chevron’s collapse means industry associations will now be on the lookout for new ways to block federal rules that threaten their bottom lines. Dempsey said that will likely change how thoroughly lobbyists respond to agency requests for comment on proposed regulations. “People are going to very clearly be outlining some of their arguments for the record,” she said. “They’re also going to be pointing out things like congressional history, and what evidence the congressional intent behind some of the interpretations are.” — With agencies now barred from clarifying or putting their own spin on laws, Congress will be under pressure to craft legislation that’s less ambiguous, more detailed and better able to account for changing circumstances and technologies. Lawmakers are likely to rely even more on lobbyists to guide them through those intricacies, giving trade associations more influence — and more work — on Capitol Hill. “There will certainly be more experts weighing in, more work to do in working with Congress on some of those bills,” Dempsey said. — The increased need for Congress to craft detailed laws in a post-Chevron world also injects a tiny bit of anxiety into K Street’s celebrations. Businesses are notoriously allergic to uncertainty — for many, unclear rules are often worse than bad ones. And lobbyists may struggle to keep lawmakers and their staff focused on important legislative details, or to break Capitol Hill’s many logjams on key issues. — “Congress has not been in the habit of writing precise legislation,” said Stewart. “We are about to see if they — Members and staff — have the patience, expertise, and time to think through and reach consensus on details they have otherwise left to the courts and regulatory agencies.” Happy Friday and welcome to PI. My name is Brendan Bordelon, the tech lobbying and influence reporter here at POLITICO. I’m filling in for Caitlin while she’s out — and enjoying myself, actually! Turns out the technology lobby isn’t the only interesting player in Washington, who knew? Send those tech tips to bbordelon@politico.com, and feel free to follow me on X at @brendanbordelon (though be warned, I’ve sworn off tweeting). LEVI’S BUCKS CORPORATE AVERSION TO ELECTIONS: As November’s elections draw closer, business leaders in C-suites across the country are eager to avoid a repeat of the last presidential election, when corporate America faced enormous pressure to weigh in on any number of issues related to the social upheaval taking place — followed by blowback for speaking out on voting rights, climate change and racial equity. — Denim purveyor Levi Strauss & Co. was among the major corporations that spoke out against a wave of new voting restrictions introduced in red states, with the company’s president and CEO Chip Bergh saying at the time that the proposals “aren’t only racist; they represent a significant step backward for us here in the U.S.” — But the “corporate wokeism” backlash of recent years hasn’t scared Levi’s — which already has internal voter engagement programs — away from reengaging the public on election issues. The company is also recruiting others in the business community to buck the trend of corporate aversion to politics by working to turn out a traditionally under-engaged set of voters. — Levi’s, MTV and Lyft have partnered up for an initiative to juice voter participation at community colleges, where turnout lagged 10 percentage points behind four-year universities during the last presidential election, according to data from Tufts University. — Along with Students Learn Students Vote and the American Association of Community Colleges, the coalition is looking to turn out 500,000 new community college voters by 2028, said Anna Walker, Levi’s vice president of public affairs, noting that community college students represented around a third of undergrads in 2020 and tend to be more diverse. — The GOTV push has a presence in all 50 states already, and offers incentives like grants or on-campus activations tied to key dates like National Voter Registration Day, National Voter Education Week and Vote Early Day. — While the coalition isn’t seeking to work with politicians, in a bid to stay as nonpartisan as possible, Walker said the coalition has spoken with the office of first lady Jill Biden because of her work teaching in community colleges. “This, for us, has been about [voter] participation,” Walker said. “It’s nonpartisan, every step of the way … the partners we choose to work with, and the companies we partner with to get that work done.” DRAG QUEENS GET TO WERK IN WASHINGTON: A group of long-time drag performers launched the first-ever political action committee led by drag artists on Thursday, The Hill’s Brooke Migdon reports. — Migdon writes that the Drag PAC, founded by drag powerhouses like Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Peppermint and Monét X Change, was created in “response to rising anti-LGBTQ+ hate and violence and legislation that threatens to roll back their rights.” — “Drag performers earlier this week met with House lawmakers on either side of the aisle to lobby for the Equality Act, federal legislation that would make sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes, as well as the Transgender Bill of Rights, a landmark resolution that would strengthen civil rights protections for trans and nonbinary Americans.” INSIDE SAUDI ARABIA’S SPORTS LOBBYING EMPIRE: The Saudi Arabian government, backed by its $950 billion Public Investment Fund, has spent eight years building a lobbying juggernaut that’s allowed the kingdom to embed itself across the entire landscape of U.S. professional sports — from the PGA Tour to the National Basketball Association and the National Football League. But the effort faces increasing political pushback, Play the Game’s Karim Zidan reports. — “Saudi Arabia’s strategy extends beyond its monetary might,” Zidan writes. “According to Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) documentation obtained through the U.S. Department of Justice, the kingdom has also employed an extensive network of lobbying firms to bolster its presence in the American sports landscape. This approach not only facilitates potential acquisitions of U.S. sports leagues but also intertwines with American political dynamics.” — Saudi Arabia’s sports-lobbying empire has sparked Hill scrutiny — last September, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a subpoena to USSA International, a subsidiary of the nation’s Public Investment Fund, to obtain documents related to the organizations’ investments in professional sports in the U.S. — “In January 2024, PIF officials urged the Senate subcommittee to retract the issued subpoenas and even went so far as to reportedly issue lawsuits against the subpoenaed contractors in an attempt to conceal the requested records. The contractors are yet to produce the subpoenaed documents required by the Senate subcommittee,” Zidan writes. VEEPSTAKES: At a Zoom fundraiser this week, GOP donors ponied up $25,000 a pop to pose a question to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Bloomberg’s Stephanie Lai reports.
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