By all accounts, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, is a well-qualified and brilliant jurist. Advocates of limited government should be especially excited about Judge Gorsuch’s willingness to re-examine Chevron USA Inc. v. National Resource Defense Council.

In Chevron, decided in 1984, the Supreme Court held that courts must give deference to administrative agencies’ interpretations of authority granted to them by Congress when a two-part test is met. Specifically, if the intent of Congress is ambiguous, and if the agency’s interpretation was “reasonable or permissible,” courts must defer to the agency.