Republicans Have Two Terrible Ideas for Regulatory Reform
If only it were that easy.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty ImagesRepublicans, including President-elect Donald Trump, have some eminently sensible proposals for regulatory reform. But the party is also pressing two terrible ideas, which seem to have a significant chance of being enacted in 2017. The irony is that both of them would be damaging to the Trump administration itself.
The first idea, though technical, is exceedingly important. In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled that whenever legislation (such as the Clean Air Act or the Affordable Care Act) is ambiguous, federal courts must respect the interpretation of the federal agency that implements that law -- intervening only if the agency's interpretation is unreasonable. This idea is called the Chevron principle, after the decision that gave birth to it, and it was defended most vigorously by the justice Trump says he most admires, Antonin Scalia.