Chevron’s critics claim to oppose the doctrine because of separation of powers concerns, claiming that executive agencies exercise legislative power without meaningful judicial oversight. But Chevron works as Schoolhouse Rock tells you laws are supposed to work: Congress makes a law, the executive branch executes the law, and judges review if they’re acting unreasonably. Without Chevron, instead of enforcing Congress’s statutory delegation of limited discretion, each judge would be able to make their own interpretation of a statute and force agencies to administer the same law in many different ways depending on the district—and the judge’s policy preference. As bad as Lauren Boebert would be at making scientific determinations about airborne poisons, Sam Alito wouldn’t be any better.
The conservative legal movement is open about its deregulatory agenda. But because of agency regulations, the country has fewer workplace injuries, fewer children with lead poisoning, and fewer food illness fatalities. It has safer roads and cleaner water. If conservatives have their way, Loper Bright could restrict the government from doing this kind of necessary work, and co-opt the courts in service of unabated exploitation of people and the planet.
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