For decades, the Supreme Court of Utah reviewed agency action under either express or implicit “delegations of discretion” for abuse of discretion. This approach “proved difficult to apply” and resulted in widely inconsistent decisions that depended on whether a court found that a statute granted an implicit delegation of power. So in 2013 the Utah […]
(This post is adapted from The Unbearable Rightness of Auer, U. Chi. L Rev. forthcoming) For more than seventy years, courts have deferred to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous regulations. The Auer principle, as is it is now called, has attracted academic criticism and some skepticism within the Supreme Court – although we will see the […]
Seminole Rock (or Auer) deference requires courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation “unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation.” Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, 133 S. Ct. 1326, 1337 (2013). Courts will defer even when the agency’s interpretation is not “the only possible reading of […]
At the center of the challenge to Auer deference is the thesis that the deference prescribed in that case gives agencies an incentive to write regulations vaguely, so that they will subsequently be able to adopt interpretations of those regulations that have not undergone the rigors of the notice and comment process but will nevertheless […]
All G.G. wanted was to be like other high schoolers, and use the bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity. Yet this small request triggered a high-profile legal battle over the meaning and application of Title IX that may be well on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. After losing in the U.S. Court […]
An August 13, 2016 New York Times article reports that “Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.” Putting to one side the detail that agencies authorized by Congress—not the President—promulgate regulations, the article looks behind the widespread public perception that “President Obama […]
Auer matters. It makes the difference between winning and losing on important issues that matter to real people—such as what bathroom a transgender student may use, what costs foreign employees must be reimbursed for, and the proper sentence for a convicted criminal. Consider these recent examples: 1. G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, […]
This article is not about the wisdom or lack thereof of Auer/Seminole Rock (“ASR”). Instead, it explores an aspect of ASR “on the ground.” Specifically, this article considers the considerable gaps between how the Supreme Court has framed the doctrine and how the United States Tax Court has applied (or not applied) it. Some of […]
Auer deference is weird. It is different from all the other forms of judicial deference to agency actions. As a result, it has become the topic of some debate. Some, like Justice Scalia, find the doctrine disturbing because it gives agencies the authority to be the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive, resulting in agencies […]
Hear Auer deference, and you’re unlikely to think of criminal law. After all, Auer deference is a doctrine of administrative law, and administrative law has traditionally been viewed as separate from criminal law. And it’s true, Auer deference does not often come up in determining whether a substantive criminal violation has occurred. But Auer deference […]
If the Supreme Court abandons the deferential approach articulated in Auer v. Robbins, will agencies lose interpretive power over their own regulations? Not necessarily. Under Auer and various predecessor cases, an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation controls, unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation. Courts do not always precisely explain […]
Yesterday we had three terrific posts on whether Auer deference actually makes a difference in the federal courts of appeals. In other words, do agencies win more when courts apply Auer deference (also known as Seminole Rock deference) to give an agency’s regulatory interpretation “controlling weight unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the […]
Seminole Rock has a step one inquiry too—and, like Chevron’s step one, it depends on the court’s choice of interpretive method. Chevron’s step one asks whether the authorizing statute “directly” speaks “to the precise question at issue” in the sense of clearly prohibiting or requiring the agency’s position. The method of statutory interpretation that the […]
Empirical study of the effects of the Seminole Rock/Auer doctrine contributed to the decision of the Solicitor General (SG) to file the petition for writ of certiorari that led to the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association and may contribute to a decision by the Supreme Court to retain some version […]
Most commentary about Auer deference has been theoretical and dramatic. Justice Scalia, for example, both the author of Auer v. Robbins and one of its early critics, decried Auer as an “evil” that allows “tyrannical laws” to be executed in a “tyrannical manner.” In Auer in Action: Deference After Talk America, I argue that this […]