Inns of Court Jeopardy

Loper

100

Why did the Court grant cert in Loper?

To determine whether Chevron should be overruled or clarified

200

What was the holding in Loper?

Courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority

300

What rules and/or agency action is affected by the Loper decision?

Only affects rules or agency action that was based on a statutory ambiguity or silence

400

What is kind of deference is not disturb by the Loper decision?

Does not disturb the traditional judicial deference to agency factfinding

Chevron

100

What is the central question in the Chevron suit?

what the limitations of agency interpretation of statutes were

200

How many parts are there to the “Chevron deference” ?

• 2 part test
• First, a court must determine if a law is ambiguous. If it is unambiguous, then the court must follow it. If the law is ambiguous, then the court determines whether the agency interpretation is “reasonable” or “permissible.” Under Chevron, a court must accept a reasonable interpretation. But courts may reject unreasonable agency interpretation of ambiguous statutes.

Court opinions

100

What year was Chevron decided?

1984

200

Who wrote the majority opinion in Chevron?

Justice Stevens

300

Who wrote the majority opinion in Loper?

Chief Justice Roberts

Court votes

100

What was the vote count in Chevron?

It was a unanimous 6-0 decision. Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Rehnquist did not participate in the decision because of illnesses. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor had a financial interest in one of the parties and recused herself in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

200

What was the judge split in Loper?

6-3

Miscellenous

100

Is mere reliance on Chevron sufficient for a prior case being overturned now?

The Court stated that the mere fact that a prior case relied on Chevron is not a sufficient basis for overturning it now