The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared likely Wednesday to curtail the ability of federal agencies to regulate a host of areas that touch on American life, signaling that a 40-year-old decision characterized as a “bedrock” of administrative law could be in jeopardy.
The two challenges before the justices Wednesday arose from a 2020 federal regulation requiring owners of fishing vessels in the Atlantic herring fishery to pay for monitors who collect data and oversee operations while they’re at sea.
But herring and the rule that gave way to the disputes were seldom mentioned during oral arguments. Instead, the justices focused on the 40-year-old legal doctrine underpinning the fight known as “Chevron deference,” which requires courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of laws passed by Congress if it is “reasonable.”
Critics of the framework argue it gives federal bureaucrats too much power in crafting regulations that affect major swaths of everyday life, and overturning Chevron has long been a goal of the conservative legal movement…
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