Judicial Deference to Agencies under Auer and Chevron – Alive, But Not Kicking
By Grimaldi Law Offices Associate Jennifer Singh The Chevron doctrine, a central principle of modern administrative law named for the 1984 case Chevron USA, Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, stands for the proposition that when a law that a federal agency oversees is not clear, courts will generally accept the agency’s interpretations of that law as long as the interpretation is reasonable. One basis for the doctrine is the idea that agency decision makers - not judges - are in the best position to understand and interpret technical and complex minutia relating to agency decisions. Although the judicial deference…