Authors
Peter L Strauss
Publication date
2012/6/1
Journal
Columbia Law Review
Pages
1143-1173
Publisher
Columbia University School of Law
Description
This Essay suggests an underappreciated, appropriate, and conceptually coherent structure to the Chevron relationship of courts to agencies, grounded in the concept of "allocation." Because the term "deference" muddles rather than clarifies the structure's operation, this Essay avoids speaking of "Chevron deference" and "Skidmore deference." Rather, it argues, one could more profitably think in terms of "Chevron space" and "Skidmore weight." "Chevron space" denotes the area within which an administrative agency has been statutorily empowered to act in a manner that creates legal obligations or constraints—that is, its allocated authority. "Skidmore weight" addresses the possibility that an agency's view on a given statutory question may in itself warrant the respect of judges who are themselves unmistakably responsible for deciding the question of statutory meaning. "Skidmore weight" has an underappreciated …
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