Abstract
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo marks a watershed moment in administrative law and conservative legal thought by formally overruling Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council and restoring judicial responsibility for resolving questions of statutory interpretation. This Article situates Loper Bright within the longer intellectual history of the modern conservative legal movement, arguing that Chevron deference emerged and was popularized, at least in part, as a conservative response to the perceived excesses of judicial activism during the Warren and Burger Court eras. While Chevron was initially embraced as a doctrine of judicial restraint that respected democratic accountability, it ultimately facilitated a dramatic expansion of administrative power at the expense of both Congress and the judiciary.
The Chevron era also saw the rise of originalism and textualism, which provided independent checks on judicial adventurism. As administrative governance expanded and political accountability waned, conservative jurists increasingly deployed these tools to question whether Chevron had become incompatible with the Administrative Procedure Act and the Constitution’s separation of powers. These doubts culminated in Loper Bright, which rejects judicial abdication in favor of independent legal judgment grounded in text, history, and structure.
Contrary to claims that Loper Bright signals a return to judicial activism, the Article contends that the decision reflects a recalibration rather than a repudiation of judicial restraint. Anchored in originalist methodology, the post-Chevron Court is positioned not to legislate from the bench but to restore constitutional boundaries among the branches. In this sense, Loper Bright represents a conservative correction to a prior institutional imbalance—one that reaffirms the judiciary’s role as a constitutional check while remaining faithful to the Founders’ design of limited and separated powers.
Recommended Citation
Bangert, Ryan
(2026)
"Legal Conservatism and the Rise and Fall of Chevron,"
Liberty University Law Review: Vol. 20:
Iss.
3, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lu_law_review/vol20/iss3/3
