The longstanding conservative effort to weaken the administrative state reached the Supreme Court last week. If conservatives really wanted to reduce the power of executive agencies, however, then they would look not to the courts but to Congress — and give the legislative branch the money and resources it deserves.

Some background: Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 meant that the administrative apparatus that expanded greatly during the New Deal and the Great Society was under the control of a president who was ideologically conservative. The Supreme Court of the time, mostly Republican appointees, came up with the doctrine of Chevron deference, which gave Reagan-era executive branch officials wide discretion to rewrite rules and interpret statutes in line with their understanding of the public interest.

QOSHE - To Write Better Laws, Congress Needs More Expertise - Matthew Yglesias
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To Write Better Laws, Congress Needs More Expertise

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21.01.2024

The longstanding conservative effort to weaken the administrative state reached the Supreme Court last week. If conservatives really wanted to reduce the power of executive agencies, however, then........

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