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5-4

Justice Roberts Joins Supreme Court Liberals to Save Administrative State

Court narrows but upholds rule letting agencies interpret statutes.

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Joshua Roberts/Reuters

By Jay Michaelson

The conservative effort to “roll back the administrative state” suffered a defeat on Wednesday as the Supreme Court upheld its precedent on deferring to agency interpretations of statutes. By a vote of 5-4 in Kisor v. Wilkie, with Chief Justice Roberts joining the four liberal judges in the majority, the court clarified and narrowed the doctrine, known as Auer deference, but left it in place. Had the rule been overturned, the foundation of the administrative state—agencies’ roles in interpreting the laws they administer—would have been significantly challenged.

Read it at Supreme Court of the United States

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