We think the US Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, is considering one of the most sweeping changes to federal regulatory policy that we can imagine. The court is hearing a case in which it could vote to overturn the so-called Chevron deference. Simply stated, the Chevron deference, resulting from a 1984 court case involving Chevron and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), states that in matters of complex federal regulatory and administrative procedure, the courts should defer to the respective federal agencies involved. This court deference has been broadly applied to all U.S. federal administrative agencies (FDA, SEC, FERC, and EPA, among others) many of which had their origins during President Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s. What would overturning the Chevron deference mean? The deference says that the U.S. Supreme Court defers to Congress in delegating broad powers to administrative agencies and agrees not to accept challenges […]