Chevron Deference
What does "Chevron Deference" mean in law?
A two-step framework established in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984) for judicial review of agency interpretations of statutes they administer. At Step One, the court asks whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue; if the statute is clear, that is the end of the matter. At Step Two, if the statute is silent or ambiguous, the court asks whether the agency's interpretation is a permissible construction of the statute. Note that the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo significantly curtailed Chevron, holding that courts must exercise independent judgment in interpreting statutes rather than deferring to agency readings.
Definition
A two-step framework established in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984) for judicial review of agency interpretations of statutes they administer. At Step One, the court asks whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue; if the statute is clear, that is the end of the matter. At Step Two, if the statute is silent or ambiguous, the court asks whether the agency's interpretation is a permissible construction of the statute. Note that the Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo significantly curtailed Chevron, holding that courts must exercise independent judgment in interpreting statutes rather than deferring to agency readings.
Example
When the EPA interpreted 'stationary source' under the Clean Air Act to mean an entire industrial plant rather than each individual smokestack, the Supreme Court deferred to the agency's reasonable interpretation under Step Two of the Chevron framework.