Supreme Court decides Chevron v. NRDC, creates agency deference

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on June 25, 1984, that federal courts must defer to a federal agency's reasonable interpretation of any ambiguous statute the agency administers. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion in Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, with three justices recused. The two-step Chevron framework became the most-cited administrative law doctrine in American history before its 2024 reversal.