Will Yeatman: Congress Cedes Power to the Administrative State Via This Legal Loophole | ATL:NOW

“Chevron, more so than any other doctrine out there, facilitates the most egregious power grabs. And, indeed, over the last 20 odd years, has facilitated an alarming growth in what is known as the administrative state.”

Will Yeatman is senior fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Center for the Separation of Powers. He recently filed an amicus brief in the case of Loper Bright Enterprise v. Raimondo, in which he argues for the Supreme Court to overturn Chevron deference, a legal doctrine that allows the government’s interpretation to prevail when a law is unclear.

“The problem here is that all laws are rife with ambiguity. This means the upshot, in essence, is that the government always wins when it’s able to invoke the Chevron Doctrine. Effectively, it puts a thumb on the scales of justice in favor of government,” says Mr. Yeatman. “By, in essence, having the judiciary abdicate its law interpretation responsibilities to the executive branch and by having, at the same time, Congress abdicating its lawmaking responsibilities to the executive branch, we’re seeing this unhealthy imbalance in our separated powers.”

Mr. Yeatman claims the principle of Chevron deference has been effectively shelved by the Supreme Court, yet continues to thrive at the lower courts, largely because of the Justice Department’s influence.

“The Supreme Court, as its composition has changed, has become evidently skeptical of Chevron deference. And how do we know that? We know that because the court hasn’t referred to it and hasn’t used this principle in more than six years,” says Mr. Yeatman.