With its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo on Friday, the Supreme Court has put new limits on how government regulators can interpret the law. The court’s decision will limit the power of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to interpret the laws they administer — as, for example, in the E.P.A.’s mandating reduced emissions from power plants on the basis of its own interpretation of the Clean Air Act. This decision has set off alarms for some, but it actually points the way toward a role for the courts that is less divisive — because it pushes everyone in our system, including judges and Congress, toward their proper constitutional work. By narrowing the so-called Chevron deference, the court has reasserted its authority over the meaning of vague legislation. Doing so may press Congress to make its law-writing more definitive and call on administrative agencies to apply substantive subject-matter expertise, rather than conjure the meanings of the laws they are meant to carry out.

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Persons: Raimondo Organizations: Loper Bright Enterprises, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Communications Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Act Locations: —