In January, the U.S. Supreme Court considered an obscure fishing industry appeal in Loper Bright Enterprises that may give the court an opportunity to overrule Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), the landmark decision of statutory construction that requires courts to defer to an administrative agency’s reasonable construction of an ambiguous statute.

At the oral argument, the liberal justices, emphasizing the merits of stare decisis, tended to support Chevron deference, and the conservative justices, deemphasizing the merits of stare decisis, tended to question Chevron deference. The politically aware members of the public tended to align in the same way. Indeed, Justice Scalia was a big Chevron supporter in the Reagan era but became more skeptical in the Obama era.