Supreme Court Conservatives Appear Open to Rolling Back Power of Federal Agencies

A bureaucracy-empowering judicial doctrine that critics blame for the explosive growth of government in recent decades should be overturned, the Supreme Court heard on Jan. 17. The court may overturn the so-called Chevron deference doctrine that the Supreme Court enunciated in 1984, or narrow its application. “Chevron deference,” as lawyers call it, holds that an agency’s interpretation of a statute it administers is entitled to deference unless Congress has said otherwise. The court’s ultimate ruling could alter the current balance of power among Congress, executive agencies, and the nation’s judiciary by curbing the legal underpinnings of the modern administrative state, which critics deride as an illegitimate fourth branch of government....