How Supreme Court’s Reversal of ‘Chevron’ Ruling Took Power From US Regulators

The US Supreme Court overturned a 40-year-old legal doctrine that Democratic administrations have used to set regulations, a reversal of precedent that took power away from executive branch agencies that enforce environmental, consumer and financial rules. The so-called Chevron doctrine, or Chevron deference, spawned by a 1984 Supreme Court ruling, was a longtime target of conservatives unhappy with the rule-making power of executive branch agencies. Here’s some background on the Chevron doctrine.

In its 1984 decision in Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the Supreme Court said that when a law is ambiguous, judges should defer to the interpretation of the federal agency applying the law, so long as that interpretation is reasonable.