Republicans Back High Court Bid to Limit Federal Agency Power

Fifteen Republican-led states and a quartet of GOP senators urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take a veteran disability case that could make federal regulations of all types more vulnerable to legal challenge.

The state coalition and Republican lawmakers filed briefs Monday backing Air Force veteran Thomas Buffington’s bid for nearly three years of disability benefits he claims were wrongfully denied. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit applied the Chevron doctrine—which calls for courts to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous laws—to side against Buffington in an August ruling.

“If Chevron requires courts to abdicate their ...