The Dismantling of Administrative Power: A 1930s Redux in the Roberts Court Era

This podcast episode, featuring Professor Jillian Meer, delves into the Supreme Court's current actions regarding national administrative governance, highlighting its deep ties to a conservative legal and political agenda. Meer, a constitutional law expert, defines the administrative state as the vast network of government agencies and personnel that interact with citizens daily, from the Post Office to the EPA and the Federal Reserve, operating under the national government and overseen by entities like the Executive Office of the President. She argues that the Roberts Court is actively working to pull back administrative power, challenging long-standing precedents and fundamentally reshaping the balance of power within the government.

The discussion draws a crucial distinction between traditional and modern interpretations of liberal and conservative judicial philosophies. Historically, a liberal stance might have been anti-regulatory, favoring the individual against the state. However, modern liberal judges tend to support broad national regulatory authority and congressional power, often at the expense of private property rights. Conversely, contemporary conservative justices advocate for limited national government, resisting broad federal power and prioritizing rights like private property and the Second Amendment, while being skeptical of the administrative state and its regulatory reach.

A central point of contention is the overturning of the Chevron decision, a 1984 ruling that established judicial deference to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Meer explains that Chevron aimed to reduce political variance in judicial reviews and leverage agency expertise and political accountability. However, conservatives increasingly viewed it as an improper delegation of judicial power, arguing that it allowed agencies to define the limits of their own authority. The Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Chevron signifies a major shift, empowering courts to interpret statutes independently rather than deferring to agency expertise.

Meer's article, "1930s redex," provides a historical lens, comparing the current judicial attacks on administrative power to those seen during the New Deal era. The 1930s marked the administrative state's full development and faced similar constitutional challenges regarding separation of powers and congressional authority, unlike the more political attacks of the Reagan era. This historical parallel serves as a warning, as the Supreme Court's actions in the 1930s led to a significant legitimacy crisis, culminating in the "court packing plan" and a subsequent "switch in time that saved nine." The episode underscores the importance of understanding these historical lessons to grasp the potential implications of the Roberts Court's current trajectory for judicial legitimacy and the future of national governance.

"...what we're seeing in the actions of the Roberts Court in terms of this commitment to pulling back administrative power is really part and parcel of a conservative legal and political agenda."

"The administrative state is lots of it is probably really familiar to people... it's the agencies that you interact with every day when you interact with government."

"Liberal judges today tend to be more supportive of broad National regulatory Authority broad congressional power under the Constitution..."

"Conservative justices and judges today on the other hand tend to really be more resistant to Broad National Power to think that the national government was intended to be a government of limited Authority..."

"Chevron is actually a decision that goes back to 1984 and it was a decision about how courts should review when an agency interprets the statute that it's charged with implementing."

"One of the effects of deferring to agencies in interpreting a statute is the concern that that gives agencies the ability to determine the meats and Bounds of their own authority..."

"One of the advantages of Chevron that that people who had studied it over time found... it actually helps reduce political variance..."

"My article is called 1930s redex... the 1930s was a period in which the you know National Ministry of State really came into its full flowing."

"One of the things that happened as a result of the Supreme Court's attack on administrative governance in the 1930s was a real legitimacy crisis for the court..."

"...the court packing plan and the you know supposed switch in time that saved nine..."