Chevron Deference Was Fun While It Lasted

I’m less hostile than many conservatives toward Chevron v. NRDC (1984), the Supreme Court decision that instructs judges to defer to certain agency interpretations of statutes they administer, which the justices will reconsider next week. My ambivalence springs in part from filial loyalty—my father, Justice Antonin Scalia, was Chevron’s foremost champion before souring on such deference doctrines in his last years.

Additionally, I once enjoyed Chevron deference myself, as labor secretary under President Trump. And boy did I enjoy it. After decades as a practicing lawyer pleading before federal judges, finally they had to defer to me.