WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, Texas conservatives have been waging a legal battle to limit the federal government's power to dictate how businesses and individuals manage their land, sell weapons or pollute the atmosphere.

Following a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulings over the past week – including Friday's landmark decision to strike down the Chevron Doctrine, a decades-old ruling that allows federal agencies to interpret past laws to address modern problems – the state's conservatives have found themselves at the forefront of a national movement to limit the federal government's authority to the powers specifically granted to it by Congress.

Chase Wheldon, litigation director for the conservative activist group Texas Public Policy Foundation, said the ruling has sparked challenges on everything from climate and gun control policy to regulations restricting development along waterways.

“The rules that are on the chopping block are these radical interpretations of the law,” he said. “It's a victory for due process and for ordinary people whose lives are changed by these decisions.”

The court also ruled last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission violated individuals' right to a jury trial by imposing penalties through an internal administrative tribunal. And on Monday, the court found that the federal government's six-year statute of limitations for challenging regulations was too short.

The decisions are the culmination of a years-long campaign by conservative politicians, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott was quoted as saying as Texas attorney general, “I'm going to go to the office, I'm going to sue the federal government, and then I'm going home.”

And as the federal court system has become increasingly conservative since the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016, conservatives in Texas have incredible momentum in limiting federal power, says David Adelman, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

“The Texas attorney general will see this as a great opportunity,” he said. “With the current judiciary all too willing to ignore the views of federal authorities, there may be many more challenges ahead. (The conservatives) will want to see how far they can take this.”

The state Attorney General's Office did not respond to requests for comment.

In his majority opinion Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts said the decision would have no impact on existing rulings based on the Chevron doctrine, but he did not specifically say that lower court judges should not hear cases challenging those rulings.

This could lead to a challenge to the federal regulatory structure, which has grown considerably since the Supreme Court's decision on the Chevron doctrine in 1984, says Jeff Wood, a Houston-based energy and technology lawyer.

“Those challenging the new federal regulations now have more tools at their disposal,” he said.

This could lead to the rolling back of longstanding federal regulations on everything from food safety to wildlife conservation – regulations on which courts have long relied on the expertise of agency officials.

The end of these relationships is long overdue for conservatives, who see it as the oppression of individuals and corporations in the name of partisan political goals. But for those on the left, the decision represents the potential end of decades of progress in cleaning up the environment and protecting consumers from industrial greed.

“Now everything is on the table, so any major polluter with a complaint could sue … or get the state of Texas to undo environmental progress,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of the activist group Environment Texas. “Many of these cases are already pending.”