Liberty University School of Law’s Supreme Courtroom was filled to capacity with students and community members attending Liberty Law Review’s symposium, “Loper Bright: A New Era of Administrative Law.” The event explored the landmark 2024 U.S. Supreme Court case Loper Bright v. Raimondo, which overruled the decades-old Chevron doctrine and significantly reshaped the landscape of administrative law.
In Loper Bright, the Supreme Court held that judges—not federal agencies—bear the ultimate responsibility for interpreting ambiguous statutes, marking a pivotal shift in the balance of power within the administrative state. The case arose when Loper Bright Enterprises, a family-owned New Jersey herring company, challenged a federal rule requiring it to pay for government-mandated observers aboard its fishing vessels, even though Congress had not expressly authorized such a requirement.
Assistant Professor Eric Bolinder, a member of the Loper Bright counsel team and author of Fishing for Justice: The Legal and Moral Case for Loper Bright, opened the program with remarks on the case’s background before introducing the featured speaker, The Hon. Jennifer Walker Elrod, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Chief Judge Elrod, nominated to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2007, is an elected member of The American Law Institute and serves on the Texas State Bar Committee on Pattern Jury Charges and the Board of Directors of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism.
During her keynote address, Chief Judge Elrod reflected on the broader significance of Loper Bright, calling it “an important decision that brought our administrative law back in line with our Constitution’s separation of powers design.” She emphasized to the students in attendance that they would be “the first post-Chevron cohort of attorneys in generations.” Following her remarks, School of Law Dean Timothy Todd joined Chief Judge Elrod for a fireside chat on her career path, the challenges of judicial service, and advice for law students pursuing public service.
Chief Judge Elrod encouraged persistence and faith in the face of professional setbacks, recalling her own experience of being denied a state judgeship twice before receiving the appointment. “If you think you are called to do something or it’s the right thing,” she told attendees, “you cannot let one ‘no’ or even two ‘nos’ tell you that you shouldn’t be doing it.”
Students in attendance said the discussion deepened their understanding of administrative law. 2L Brendan Wells, a Law Review candidate, noted that Chief Judge Elrod’s “nuanced perspective on the foundational cases leading to the decision, coupled with her emphasis on the constitutional ‘why,’ provided invaluable depth beyond classroom lectures.” Wells also commended her engagement with students, saying, “Chief Judge Elrod took the time to ask Law Review members about our articles and get to know us personally.”
The symposium also featured two expert panels with participants who had worked directly on the case. The first included Will Yeatman (Pacific Legal Foundation), Marc Wheat (Advancing American Freedom), and William Burner (Liberty University adjunct faculty). The second featured Ryan Bangert (Alliance Defending Freedom), John Vecchione (New Civil Liberties Alliance), and Michael Pepson (Americans for Prosperity Foundation). Their essays will appear in the third issue of Liberty Law Review Volume 20, slated for publication this spring.
3L Isaac Rizkallah, editor-in-chief of Liberty Law Review, said the symposium’s focus on Loper Bright reflected the journal’s mission. “The Liberty Law Review furthers Liberty’s mission of Training Champions for Christ by hosting special symposia that integrate biblical truth into cutting-edge legal trends,” he said. “We centered the event on Loper Bright v. Raimondo because it captures the Supreme Court’s renewed commitment to the separation of powers principle.”
Dean Todd praised the event’s success, expressing gratitude to Chief Judge Elrod and the panelists for sharing their expertise. “Her passion and desire to interact with students and the Liberty Law community was a blessing,” Todd said. “We look forward to the forthcoming articles and the scholarly impact that these initiatives will yield.”