The Big Winners of This Supreme Court Term
In three decisions late this week, the Supreme Court upended American administrative law—the legal field that governs how government agencies interpret and implement legislation.
Administrative law is notoriously arcane and technical. But these cases will have enormous consequences for governmental functions as disparate as regulating pollution, guaranteeing safe workplaces, and administering Medicare. The winners won’t be average American citizens; they will be companies and private interests who know how to use the court system to their advantage.
To see why, begin with the fact that all three of the cases inflate the role of the courts. The blockbuster case of the three, , overturned a seminal 1984 decision known as , which called for courts to defer when agencies interpret the statutes they administer. Now courts—not agencies—will decide crucial legal questions about how to implement government programs.
