For years a key part of the conservative Republican agenda has been ending judicial activism. It may then come as a surprise to some to learn that not only has the House Republican majority passed legislation that would authorize federal judges to be even more powerful, but that the bill was supported by many conservative organizations. The reason is that the legislation in question, the Separation of Powers Restoration Act (SOPA /HR 288), restores the federal court’s function of ensuring federal regulatory agencies respect the constitutional limitations on their power. It does this by ending the Chevron deference, which was established in the case of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. This was a 1984 case involving a dispute over the interpretation of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule. Chevron deference means federal courts should defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of its own powers as long as the interpretation does not directly contradict Congress and is “reasonable.” Chevron allows federal agencies the ability to define the limits of their own power, making a mockery of the Constitution’s separation of powers.
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