MIDLAND, Mich. — The United States Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo reins in the unwarranted power of the federal administrative state. The ruling overturns the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, which required courts to defer to executive branch agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous laws. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has long opposed judicial deference to bureaucrats. In its home state of Michigan, the Center has played a key role in keeping state agency powers in check.

Today’s Loper Bright decision ensures that the courts, not administrative agencies, are ultimately responsible for interpreting the law. Practically, this decision will restrict bureaucrats’ authority to import their policy preferences into ambiguous statutes. Critics of today’s opinion should take note of how Michigan’s administrative agencies have operated under a similar ruling that reduced the power and discretion of state bureaucrats.

In its 2008 decision in In re Complaint of Rovas Against SBC Michigan, the Michigan Supreme Court adopted the Mackinac Center’s argument that legislators, not unelected bureaucrats, are responsible for resolving policy disputes.

Since the Rovas decision, Michigan agencies have continued to operate effectively and the state has not suffered any cataclysmic harm. Having judges, rather than bureaucrats, interpret statutes is not a destructive concept. There is no reason to expect the federal results will differ from what Michigan has experienced. The republic existed for centuries without a Chevron test.

“Bureaucrats are not legislators,” said Patrick J. Wright, vice president for legal affairs at the Mackinac Center. “But over the last few decades, some of this country’s most important policy questions have been laid at the feet of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. This decision corrects that flaw and returns important policy decisions to the legislature.”

Read the U.S. Supreme Court opinion here. Learn more about the Michigan Supreme Court's Rovas decision here.