Chevron deference

[shev-ron def-er-uhns]

noun

Law.

1. in the United States, the act or practice of accepting a government agency’s interpretation of any ambiguous parts of the legislation governing its mandate and actions, as long as the agency’s interpretation is reasonable.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Chevron deference¹

First recorded in 1985–90; named after the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court case Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

Example Sentences

It overturned the so-called Chevron deference doctrine, according to which regulatory agencies had wide latitude in interpreting vague statutes.

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Perhaps even more significant have been its dramatic curbs on federal regulation in the form of “the major questions doctrine” and end to so-called Chevron deference, not to mention its stratospheric advancement of executive power in Trump v.

Read more on Slate

In the second ruling, issued in July, the court abandoned the 40-year-old “Chevron deference” precedent, under which federal courts tended to defer to agency interpretations of statutes that were found to be legally ambiguous, if the interpretations were “reasonable.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It states that regulations that courts approved through Chevron deference are grandfathered — so overturning them will still require the full APA treatment.

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The ruling, handed down on Thursday from three Republican judicial appointees, cited the Supreme Court’s recent overturning of the long-held precedent of "Chevron deference," which asked lower courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretation of the law.

Read more on Salon