The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 40-year-old precedent in
striking down the so-called "Chevron" test,
which instructed courts when they should defer to federal
agencies' interpretations of law in rulemaking. In its 6-3
ruling, the Supreme Court discarded the analysis first adopted in
its 1984 decision inChevron v. Natural Resources Defense
Council, holding that the test improperly elevated the
executive branch's legal interpretations over those of the
judicial branch.
According to the Court's majority opinion, authored by Chief
Justice John Roberts, courts now must "exercise their
independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within
its statutory authority, as the [administrative procedure act]
requires." In fact, Roberts continued, "courts need not
and under the APA may not defer to an agency interpretation of the
law simply because a statute is ambiguous."
