Supreme Court to Hear Landmark Case That Could Roll Back Administrative State

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Jan. 17 in two cases challenging the decades-old Chevron doctrine, which has been cited thousands of times and has formed the foundation for administrative law. Issued in 1984, the opinion in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council said courts generally should defer to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous language in congressional statutes. The cases—Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce—are challenging a regulation that forces commercial fishing vessels to pay for individuals to monitor their compliance with federal law. When the Supreme Court takes a case, it agrees to address certain “questions presented” by the challenge being brought. Justices sometimes address narrow aspects of precedent and law but with these cases, they decided to tackle Chevron in its entirety....