With Chevron Dead and Buried, Congress Is Back in the Driver’s Seat

When the Chevron case was first decided by the Supreme Court in 1984, no one involved realized they were witnessing a landmark decision that would grow the administrative state beyond all recognition in just a few short decades.

Legal observers at the time believed that the ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which established a two-part test for deciding when a court must defer to a government agency’s reading of laws or statutes, would simply empower a democratically accountable executive to make determinations around the margins.

About the Author

Zach Kessel

Zach Kessel was a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism and a recent graduate of Northwestern University.

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When the Chevron case was first decided by the Supreme Court in 1984, no one involved realized they were witnessing a landmark decision that would grow the administrative state beyond all recognition in just a few short decades.

Legal observers at the time believed that the ruling in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which established a two-part test for deciding when a court must defer to a government agency’s reading of laws or statutes, would simply empower a democratically accountable executive to make determinations around the margins.