At the end of last month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a 40-year precedent known as the Chevron Doctrine. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley says it is a consequential decision that will strip undue authority from unelected federal bureaucrats. The original case dates back to 1984 when the nation’s highest court ruled that federal agencies’ interpretation of a law was the default interpretation when the law’s language was ambiguous. SCOTUS overturned the Chevron Doctrine on a 6-3 margin, and Grassley says it removes some of the weight from the heavy hand of government agencies.
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Grassley says the Chevron Doctrine led to massive growth in the administrative state’s power.
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Prior examples of battles in the federal courts that involved the Chevron Doctrine include the Clean Water Act and the resulting “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule that at one point would have had 97 percent of Iowa classified as a federally regulated watershed, or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) rule that classified bump stocks as machine guns. With courts now required to interpret laws rather than arbitrary rules, Grassley says the onus is now on Congress to be clear with every bill they pass.
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Critics of the Supreme Court’s ruling argue that the end of the Chevron Doctrine will have widespread impacts on government operations. Grassley made his comments during his weekly Capitol Hill Report with Iowa reporters