In a major victory for business, the Supreme Court Friday gave judges more power to block new regulations if they are not clearly authorized by federal law. The court's conservative majority overturned a 40-year-old rule that said judges should defer to agencies and their regulations if the law is not clear. The vote was 6-3, with the liberal justices dissenting. The decision deals a sharp setback to environmentalists as well as to unions and healthcare regulators.
They fretted about the 'administrative state' and argued unelected federal officials should not be afforded powers typically reserved for lawmakers. 'Chevron is overruled,' Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote Friday for the majority. In decades past, the Chevron doctrine was supported by prominent conservatives, including the late Justice Antonin Scalia.