TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Supreme Court Weighs Future of Federal Agency Power

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jan 17, 2024
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court today heard arguments on the future of the “Chevron deference,” a legal doctrine that instructs courts to defer to agencies’ interpretation of federal law. The government’s lawyer argued for the doctrine while lawyers for a group of fishermen — who are challenging a mandate that they fund federal monitors on their vessels — called on the court to overrule the precedent or at least narrow its scope, The Hill reports. Critics of the doctrine argue it requires judges to abdicate responsibility to interpret the law. Supporters argue that regulators, who have more knowledge and experience in their particular fields, are best positioned to make such decisions. The justices also weighed whether to replace Chevron with another, more narrow test known as Skidmore, under which a judge would decide to defer to an agency only if the agency’s argument is persuasive. Read about the Chevron doctrine's history from SCOTUSblog.

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