Facts of the Case
The Clean Air Act (the Act) required states that had not yet achieved national air quality standards to establish a permit program regulating new or modified major stationary sources of air pollution, such as manufacturing plants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed a regulation under the Act that allows states to treat all pollution-emitting devices in the same industrial grouping as though they were a single “bubble”. Using this bubble provision, plants may install or modify one piece of equipment without needing a permit if the alteration does not increase the total emissions of the plant. Several environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, challenged the bubble provision as contrary to the Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit set aside the EPA regulation as inappropriate for a program enacted to improve air quality.
Questions
Does the Clean Air Act permit the EPA to define the term "stationary source" to mean whole industrial plants only, which allows plants to build or modify units within plants without the permit required under the Act?
Conclusions
-
Yes. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for a unanimous court, reversed. The Supreme Court held that the bubble regulation was a reasonable interpretation of the term “stationary source” in the Clean Air Act. Congress did not have a specific intention for the interpretation of that term, and the EPA’s regulation was a reasonable policy choice. The regulation also provided reasonable accommodations for the many competing interests affected by the Act. Justices Thurgood Marshall, William H. Rehnquist, and Sandra Day O’Connor did not participate.
Chevron in the States: Where Is Deference Still in Effect, and How Can States Eliminate It?
The next battles over administrative law will unfold in state capitols, state courts, and state...
The Curtain Falls on Chevron: Will the Chevron Two-Step Give Way to a Simpler Loper Bright-Line Rule?
Federalist Society Review, Volume 25
Traditionally, administrative law cases don’t make news. Instead, they make snooze. They can be exciting...
The Concern for Human Flourishing at the Core of Antitrust Law
Antitrust law did not start in 1890. Though judges, scholars, and government officials often describe...
The Concern for Human Flourishing at the Core of Antitrust Law
Antitrust law did not start in 1890. Though judges, scholars, and government officials often describe...
Corner Post and Loper Bright: Only certain plaintiffs can challenge old regulations in the post-Chevron world
When we filed Corner Post’s lawsuit in 2021, we didn’t expect to end up at...
The Death of Deference: Supreme Court Overrules the Chevron Doctrine
In a move long anticipated by many court watchers, the Supreme Court on June 28,...
Some Thoughts on NTIA’s New “Artificial Intelligence Accountability Policy Report”
After years of exploring the idea in science fiction, new advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
Noncompetes, Overtime, and the Status Quo: How Agency Rulemaking Distorts Federal Policy and Why Only Courts Can Fix It
Last week was a busy one for the Biden administration. It issued a raft of...
Loper and Labor Law: Implications of a Possible Decrease in Deference on New Rulemaking
On January 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and...
Loper and Labor Law: Implications of a Possible Decrease in Deference on New Rulemaking
On January 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Loper Bright & Relentless
In two cases this term (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Loper Bright & Relentless
In two cases this term (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of...
A Seat at the Sitting - January 2024
The January Docket in 90 Minutes or Less
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
A Seat at the Sitting - January 2024
The January Docket in 90 Minutes or Less
Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting...
What Do the NLRB’s Administrative Law Judges’ Decisions Tell Us About the Fairness of the Board’s Procedures?
Twenty-three of the National Labor Relations Board’s 36 Administrative Law Judges (64%) were Board attorneys...
Environmental Law Visits Bedford Falls at the National Lawyers Convention
It’s almost that time of year when TV channel-flippers (like me) invariably stumble across “It’s...
Deep Dive Episode 285 - Loper Bright and the Next Steps for Chevron Deference at the Supreme Court
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
This Term, the Supreme Court will hear Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo—a case concerning judicial...
Loper Bright and the Next Steps for Chevron Deference at the Supreme Court
This Term, the Supreme Court will hear Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo—a case concerning judicial...
Loper Bright and the Next Steps for Chevron Deference at the Supreme Court
This Term, the Supreme Court will hear Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo—a case concerning judicial...
Litigation Update: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
For the past thirty years, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) has given the National Marine Fisheries...
Litigation Update: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo
A Regulatory Transparency Project Webinar
For the past thirty years, the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) has given the National Marine Fisheries...
Is the Administrative State Inevitable? Loper, Chevron, and the “Abnegation” of Law
Last month, the Supreme Court granted cert in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. Though the case...
Is Glacier Northwest the Tip of the Iceberg?
Glacier Northwest created no new doctrine. But it may still signal a new direction for labor law.
Nowadays, labor-law cases are a rare sight at the Supreme Court. The Court usually takes...
And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Liberation of Civil Society
As anyone who has seen a building collapse or a bridge buckle can attest, it...
Chevron—Complicated, Start to Finish
Federalist Society Review, Volume 23
A Review of Thomas W. Merrill, The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the...
Chevron—Complicated, Start to Finish
Federalist Society Review, Volume 23
A Review of Thomas W. Merrill, The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the...
Revitalizing the Nondelegation Doctrine
Federalist Society Review, Volume 23
A Review of The Administrative State Before the Supreme Court: Perspectives on the Nondelegation Doctrine (Peter...
.png)
The Future of Chevron Deference at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court decided multiple administrative law cases this term, but in no majority opinion...
The Future of Chevron Deference at the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court decided multiple administrative law cases this term, but in no majority opinion...
Has Chevron Step One Stepped to Center Stage?
Unanimous Supreme Court rulings are always less likely to generate headlines. So, in a term...
American Hospital Association v. Becerra - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
Featuring Ilya Shapiro
On November 30, the Court heard argument in American Hospital Association v. Becerra, a case...
Bureaucracy With Bumper Guards: Better Than It Rules?
Federalist Society Review, Volume 22
A review of Law & Leviathan: Redeeming the Administrative State, by Cass Sunstein & Adrian...
Kisor v. Wilkie Makes Auer a Paper Tiger
Federalist Society Review, Volume 20
Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public...
Baldwin v. U.S.: Will the Chevron Doctrine Be Refined or Overruled?
In Baldwin v. United States, No. 17-55115 (filed April 16, 2019), the United States...
Chevron Deference v. The United States Constitution
Two decades of controversy over Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempts to regulate the Internet across...
The Supreme Court Tackles Patent Reform: Inter Partes Review Under the AIA Undermines the Structural Protections Offered by Article III Courts
Federalist Society Review, Volume 19
Note from the Editor: This article criticizes Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion in Oil States. It...
Why Scalia Was Wrong About Chevron
Not since the New Deal era has the scope and reach of the modern administrative...
REINING in the Agencies: Oversight of Executive Branch Rulemaking in the 21st Century
Engage Volume 16, Issue 3
Note from the Editor: This article critiques current procedures for agency rulemaking and proposes an...
Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA: A Foreshadowing of Things to Come?
Engage Volume 16, Issue 3
On June 23, 2014, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Utility Air...
United States v. Home Concrete & Supply, LLC and Its Implications for Administrative Law
Engage Volume 13, Issue 2, July 2012
I. Introduction On April 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court decided United States v....
Key Provisions of the Regulatory Accountability Act
New Federal Initiatives Project
Brought to you by the Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group The Federalist Society takes...
Salerno v. Chevron: What to Do About Statutory Challenges
The Chevron standard for judging agency statutory interpretations is ubiquitous in administrative law cases. The...
Comment on American Trucking Associations, et al., v. EPA
Administrative Law Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 1999
The D.C. Circuit's opinion in American Trucking Associations v. EPA (ATA)1 is both more and...
Administrative Common Law and the Original Meaning of Judicial Review Under the APA
Administrative Law Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 1999
In 1946 Congress enacted a "comprehensive statement of the right, mechanics, and scope of judicial...
Society Debates Resurrecting the Non-Delegation Doctrine
Administrative Law Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 1999
The Federalist Society's Administrative Law and Regulation Practice Group's panel discussion at the 1998 National...
Chevron, The Nondelegation Doctrine, and Tobacco
Administrative Law Practice Group Newsletter - Volume 3, Issue 1, Spring 1999
Federalist Society members tend to applaud the Supreme Court's Chevron doctrine,1 because it seeks to...
The Major Questions Doctrine: West Virginia v. EPA
National Lawyers Conference 2022
The Mayflower Hotel1127 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20006
Should The Chevron Doctrine Stand?
Chevron v. NRDC (1984) and subsequent precedents held that courts should defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. This judicial deference to administrative agencies, often called Chevron Deference has been a topic of great debate. Two experts, Mark Chenoweth and Ronald Levin, took on this debate via a variety of mediums -blogs, videos, etc. while additional experts chimed in with Amicus Briefs, culminating in an audience vote on which side convinced them.