The Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright, which concluded that Chevron deference conflicts with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), has been criticized for an analytical error. The Court's problem was not with Chevron itself but with courts, including the Supreme Court, indiscriminately applying Chevron deference in cases where section 706 of the APA governs judicial review.

Chief Justice Roberts explained that section 706 of the APA mandates that "the reviewing court"—not the agency—must "decide all relevant questions of law" and "interpret . . . statutory provisions." However, the original Chevron opinion did not address how its holding aligned with the APA's language.

The criticism centers on the fact that section 706 of the APA did not apply to the judicial review of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule at issue in Chevron because Chevron was not an APA review case. This is due to the Clean Air Act superseding the APA in this context, as it states: "The provisions of section 553 through 557 and section 706 of Title 5 [the APA] shall not, except as expressly provided in this subsection, apply to actions to which this subsection applies." (42 U.S.C. § 7607(d)(1)).

Judge Ray Randolph, addressing the Supreme Court's instruction to reconsider a prior decision deferring to an agency interpretation under Chevron, identifies this as the "error" in Loper Bright. The issue lies in the misapplication of Chevron deference in cases where APA's section 706 is applicable, rather than a fault in Chevron itself.

This analysis was detailed by Jonathan H. Adler in Reason on July 24, 2026.

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