Biden administration faces onslaught of lawsuits as business groups claim regulatory overreach

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WASHINGTON — When the Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule earlier this month banning non-compete clauses, the blowback was swift: Within 24 hours, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce led a handful of business groups to file a lawsuit seeking to block the ban. They argued that the FTC lacked the authority to impose it in the first place. The playbook is becoming a familiar one: The Biden administration finalizes a new rule regulating business, and the Chamber and industry lobbying groups immediately sue to stop it by arguing that the agency has overstepped its authority. So far this year, the administration has finalized seven rules, addressing everything from independent contractors to credit card late fees and climate disclosure requirements, only to see them met with near-immediate lawsuits by the Chamber and other groups. In all, the Chamber expects to file at least 22 lawsuits against the Biden administration before the end of President Joe Biden's current term, a dramatic increase from the three suits it filed against the Trump administration and the 15 it filed during Obama's first term. And they are not alone. The American Bankers Association, another influential lobbying group in Washington, has signed on to four lawsuits against banking regulators since Sept. 2022, after not signing on to any legal challenges to federal policy for roughly a decade before that. Officials at both the Chamber and ABA emphasize that litigation is always a last resort. But they see it as a necessary step when agencies issue regulations that go outside the scope of their authority. "It's not just about a single regulation, right? It's about the 1,000 regulations that are going to go final this year. It's about the 200-plus regulations that have an economic impact of more than $200 million a year," Neil Bradley, executive vice president at the Chamber, told CNBC in an interview.