By striking down a 40-year-old legal precedent that allowed unelected and unaccountable federal bureaucrats to interpret ambiguously worded statutes as they see fit, the Supreme Court has restricted the administrative state that had become accustomed to operating without strict adherence to the Constitution’s Separation of Powers.

The high court’s 6-3 ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overturned what was known as Chevron deference, which required courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of unclear statutory text if the interpretation is merely “reasonable.” (Chevron refers to the 1984 Supreme Court opinion in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.)

By ceding such vast authority to the permanent bureaucracy, Chevron deference helped stack the deck against anyone who had run afoul of the policy preferences of increasingly powerful federal agencies. Now, federal judges can no longer defer to entrenched bureaucrats to determine what Congress intended in crafting a law; the courts themselves must make that call.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that a doctrine allowing bureaucrats to make such distinctions “is misguided because agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do.”

It is also true that bureaucrats in regulatory agencies are not disinterested parties. They may be faceless, but they have a stake in expanding their agency’s power where they spend their professional careers and will find it hard to resist interpreting statutes in ways that further empower those agencies. Furthermore, individuals who choose careers in federal regulatory agencies are likely ideologically predisposed to support rules and regulations strengthening the hand of the regulatory state.

Concurring with the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas added that “by tying a judge’s hands, Chevron prevents the Judiciary from serving as a check on the Executive.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch noted that Chevron “has led us to a strange place. One where …the scales of justice are tilted systematically in favor of the most powerful, where legal demands can change with every election, even though laws do not, and where people are left guessing about their legal rights and responsibilities.”

As Gorsuch suggests, real-world consequences of a doctrine allowing agencies to regulate vast swaths of American life unchecked by authority limits are profound. In an amicus brief urging an end to Chevron deference, Washington Legal Foundation and Independent Women’s Law Center underscored harm caused by this doctrine throughout society.

“Recently, agencies have tried rewriting federal student loan programs, attempted barring landlords from collecting rent on their properties, and forced workers nationwide into getting vaccines,” stated their brief. “Each time a regulatory agency far exceeded its statutory power because it felt emboldened by Chevron.”

Recognizing damage inflicted on regulatory states by this ruling's blow dealt by courts' decisions Justice Elena Kagan scathingly dissented saying majorities replaced rules "judicial humility" ones "judicial hubris."

“In one fell swoop today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue — no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden — involving meaning regulatory law,” she wrote.

“The court substituted its judgment workplace health Occupational Health Safety Administration; judgment climate change Environmental Protection Agency; judgment student loans Department Education,” Kagan added.

Putting weighty constitutional issues aside moment underlying assumptions Kagan remarks "expertise-driven" wisdom resides corridors federal agencies recent experience calls question public health responses COVID-19 lockdowns school closures mandates masks vaccines climate regulators micromanaging household appliances personal transportation experts rapidly falling favor much public mighty edifice Chevron deference brought low small slimy fish herring rule issued National Marine Fisheries Service charging commercial herring vessels operating North Atlantic up $700 daily per vessel monitor herring catches threatened bankrupt New Jersey fishing operation fishermen sued saying NMFS had no authority impose charge authority was Chevron deference expressing view year ahead Supreme Court ruling Justice Gorsuch stated: "At late hour whole project deserves tombstone no one miss."

That tombstone now stands.

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Bonner Russell Cohen is a senior policy analyst with Committee for Constructive Tomorrow wrote InsideSources.com.

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