High Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine, Says Courts, Not Agencies, Should Interpret Statutes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned a 40-year-old law that required courts to sometimes defer to federal agencies’ permissible interpretations of statutes those agencies administer, even if the reviewing court has a different interpretation of the statute.

In a June 28 opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, the 6-2 court rejected the Chevron doctrine, ruling that it cannot be squared with the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which states that courts, not agencies, should decide “all relevant questions of law” arising on review of agency action, even where a statute is ambiguous.

In its 1984 ruling …