SCOTUS Readies 'Mortal Blow to the Administrative State'

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a seemingly mundane dispute in the fishing industry. The implications of the case, however, are enormous, and based on Wednesday's questions, the court's conservative majority appears poised to overturn or at least limit what's become known as the Chevron doctrine, reports SCOTUSblog. Such an outcome could weaken the federal government's ability to regulate pretty much everything, notes NPR.

• The doctrine: Stemming from a 1984 case (which received little attention at the time), the wonky-sounding Chevron doctrine "established the principle that courts must defer to agencies' reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes," writes Adam Liptak in the New York Times. Meaning, judges should defer to federal agencies and their experts when it comes to setting rules on the environment, the economy, health care, civil rights, consumer protections, and on and on.

• A flip: The ruling was initially celebrated by the Reagan administration and conservatives—including late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, who predicted in 1989 that the law would "endure and be given its full scope"—but that thinking has shifted in recent years. "Business groups on the whole remain hostile to regulation," writes Liptak, and the right has come to believe that federal agencies are dominated by liberals.
• A fear: News that the court appears ready to gut Chevron is being treated with celebration or apprehension, depending on political leanings. At Slate, Mark Joseph Stern worries that "all aspects of federal governance will be in peril, subject to the whims of unelected judges with zero expertise or accountability and a distinct bias toward deregulation."
• A celebration: But at the Federalist, Margot Cleveland is pleased. "It will be a mortal blow to the administrative state," she writes of the pending decision. In her view, the 1984 ruling gave far too much power to "unelected bureaucrats."
• Humility: Elena Kagan asserted that the Chevron doctrine is a "doctrine of humility" and worried that abolishing it would give judges too much power, notes the Washington Post. Moments later, Neil Gorsuch said, "One lesson of humility is admit when you're wrong."

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