New Jersey
Scarinci: Chevron Doctrine is Running on Empty – New Jersey Globe
The Supreme Court is poised to dramatically shake up how courts decide legal challenges involving federal regulations. The Court recently heard oral arguments in two cases that ask the justices to abolish (or at least significantly alter) the so-called Chevron doctrine, which has served as a bedrock principle of administrative law for nearly four decades.
Why the Chevron Doctrine Matters
The term “Chevron Doctrine” refers to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which held that courts must defer to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute that the agency is charged with administering, even if they are inclined to rule another way. Chevron analysis typically involves a two-step process.
In step one, courts examine “whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.” If so, “that is the end of the matter,” and courts must enforce the “unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.” Where there is statutory silence or ambiguity, however, step two requires courts to defer to a reasonable agency interpretation of the statutory text, even if the court would have otherwise reached a contrary conclusion.
Courts have relied on Chevron in holding up regulations related to the environment, financial markets, healthcare, and countless other issues. The rationale behind the doctrine is that Congress can’t possibly address every possible legal situation when drafting statutes, and federal agencies have the legal and technical expertise required to fill in the details. Proponents of Chevron also maintain that it prevents judges from substituting their personal policy preferences for agency interpretations.
While Chevron is one of the most cited cases by federal courts in administrative law disputes, it has steadily gained critics, including members of Congress, legal scholars, and Supreme Court justices. One of the most frequent criticisms is that the Chevron doctrine allows agencies to formulate policy under the guise of interpreting statutory ambiguities.
What Oral Arguments Revealed About the Fate of Chevron
The two cases before the Supreme Court, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, involve a rule issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service requiring fishing vessels to pay for the costs of observers who monitor compliance with fishery management plans. In both cases, the federal appeals court cited Chevron in holding that the rule is a permissible exercise of the agency’s authority.
In appealing to the Supreme Court, the challengers expressly asked the Court to revisit Chevron. The specific question before the justices is “[w]hether the court should overrule Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, or at least clarify that statutory silence concerning controversial powers expressly but narrowly granted elsewhere in the statute does not constitute an ambiguity requiring deference to the agency.”
During oral arguments, several of the Court’s conservative justices appeared skeptical of the Chevron Doctrine, which is not surprising given that Justice Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch had already suggested that it should be overruled in prior decisions. This time around, they raised serious questions about the doctrine’s future, with Justice Gorsuch raising concerns that “Chevron is exploited against the individual and in favor of the government.” They were joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, who stated: “Chevron itself ushers in shocks to the system every four or eight years when a new administration comes in, whether it’s communications law or securities law or competition law or environmental law. It’s just a massive change that is at war with reliance.”
Not all of the justices appeared ready to completely end Chevron deference, with all members of the Court’s liberal minority expressing support for the doctrine. They specifically raised concerns that ending Chevron deference would require federal judges to make policy determinations on issues that they know little about.
Justice Elena Kagan used AI legislation as a hypothetical. “Congress knows that there are going to be gaps because Congress can hardly see a week in the future with respect to this subject, let alone a year or a decade,” Kagan said. She noted that Congress would arguably want those “who actually know about AI and are accountable to the political process to make decisions.” Meanwhile, courts don’t “even know what the questions are about AI, let alone the answers,” she continued.
Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett were harder to read than their conservative colleagues, with Justice Barrett particularly concerned about the potential upheaval that could result from overruling the long-standing precedent. Justice Kagan raised similar concerns and specifically asked how the Court might “clarify and articulate the limits of Chevron deference without taking the drastic step of upending decades of settled precedent.”
What’s Next?
While oral arguments can reveal a lot about how a justice is inclined to rule, nothing is set in stone until the Court reaches a final decision. If a majority of justices don’t want to abolish Chevron in its entirely, it may survive in a weakened form.
In either event, federal agencies’ more “assertive” interpretations of federal regulations will certainly be more susceptible to legal challenges. Giving courts more leeway when considering regulatory challenges also significantly increases the risk that a rule is deemed valid by lower courts in one part of the country and invalid in another.
It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the Brooklyn Nets moved out of New Jersey.
The organization has completely revamped its vibe since switching states, ditching the red, white and blue look for a very basic black and white colorway.
The Nets have also intermittently changed the colors of the banners hanging up in the Barclays Center from red, white and blue to black and white, much to the chagrin of traditional Nets fans.
Despite the Nets now playing in a bigger market and being far removed from their days in the Garden State, some fans seem to hope for the Nets to make their return across the river. New Jersey governor Mikie Sherrill was asked about the matter.
“I mean, would I support it? I ask about it all the time,” Sherrill said. “I love the idea. So, I have been pressing for that. I haven’t made a lot of headway yet; you know, maybe in my second 100 days.
“But I do think there is some work being done for some — I don’t know if I’m allowed to say too much about it — but some people are working on some different sports coming into the Rock.”
As time went on, the Nets eventually started to embrace more of their New Jersey roots, which started when they rocked a clean tie-dye jersey from the 90s during the 2020-21 season.
The next season, the Nets followed it up with uniforms commemorating their run in the 2000s, when the team got to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003 and endlessly broke the ESPN top 10 with each crazy Jason Kidd assist and Vince Carter dunk.
It’s fitting that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the latter of whom grew up in New Jersey as a Nets fan, got to rock these uniforms, helping boost the popularity of the New Jersey brand to a wide array of fans.
True Nets fans embraced the Continental Airlines Arena/Izod Center and the swamps of East Rutherford, getting to witness a winning basketball team for a fraction of the cost of the team mired in dysfunction that happened to play their home games at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
Not many marquee free agents would have signed up to play in New Jersey, but real fans remember the good times in the swamps, especially with Sly the Fox as the team’s mascot. Those times deserve to be remembered properly.
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ATLANTIC COUNTY, N.J. (WPVI) — Drivers heading to the shore on Friday afternoon saw slow-moving traffic for several miles coming off the Walt Whitman bridge, but many travelers said the start of the holiday weekend was smoother than they anticipated.
Aldara Madden, who was traveling with her friend Elana Maser, said the trip moved faster than she expected.
“I was expecting it to take a lot longer,” she said.
Maser added that they left school early to avoid delays.
“My mom and I do that every year and then we always stop here as our little pre-down the shore,” she said.
Others shared similar experiences.
“I’m coming from Bucks County, so I was worried there was gonna be some traffic but it really wasn’t bad at all,” said Erin McFadden of Churchville, who was headed to Ocean City.
AAA reported that while slightly more people are traveling by car this year compared to last, 2026 is projected to have the lowest year-over-year travel growth rate in more than a decade, excluding the steep drop seen in 2020 during the pandemic.
The organization attributes the slowdown largely to concerns over rising prices.
“Gas is ridiculously expensive and I think all the time before going anywhere these days,” said Debbie Maser of Philadelphia. “But this is our happy place and nothing can keep us away.”
A dreary weekend forecast may also be influencing travel patterns.
“I was thinking that, I wonder if there’ll be less congestion on the roads because of the weather,” said Kyra Wolin of Massachusetts. “It’s not looking to be too good this weekend with the rain.”
Still, many shore-bound travelers said tradition outweighs any concerns about rain or crowds.
“No not at all. You go down. You get it done,” said George Miller of Lansdale.
Eric Wolin of Massachusetts agreed: “Never, never. Margate’s a special place for us.”
As the unofficial start of summer begins, travelers said they remain committed to kicking off the season in their favorite spots, not letting rain, traffic, or high prices keep them away.
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This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.
From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.
As summer begins, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is urging residents to limit lawn watering, and hand water flowers and shrubs as a drought warning continues. The warning, in place since December 2025, could turn into a drought emergency if conditions do not improve. The state has suffered eight consecutive months of below-normal rainfall, according to officials.
“New Jersey is experiencing a chronic water supply drought, the scale of which we haven’t seen in more than twenty years,” state geologist Steven Domber said in a statement issued earlier this month. “The indicators that we track closely are showing persistently dry conditions. With uncertainty for rainfall in the coming months, we need residents to conserve water today, to ensure we have enough to sustain our needs over the summer.”
The Department of Environmental Protection uses a variety of indicators to determine drought levels, including precipitation, stream flows, reservoir levels, ground water levels and demand.
In addition to the last two months, officials say, the state “experienced below normal precipitation for 20 of the last 24 months since September 2024,” despite heavy snowfall events this past winter that helped restore reservoirs in North Jersey.
“While we saw a little relief over the winter, New Jersey is feeling the effects of nearly two years of below-normal precipitation,” Sherrill said in a statement earlier this month. She urged residents to voluntarily conserve water.
New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson said that since precipitation has been below normal for most of the last 24 months, the recent winter weather did not provide enough water to help restore streams and groundwater.
Should a drought emergency be declared, mandatory water restrictions would be put in place. The last drought emergency lasted almost a year, between March 2002 and January 2003.
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