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Page Number: 70

14 

WEST VIRGINIA v. EPA 

KAGAN, J., dissenting 

Section 111 entrusts important matters to EPA in the ex-
pectation that the Agency will use that authority to combat 
pollution—and that courts will not interfere. 

A 
“[T]he words of a statute,” as the majority states, “must
be read in their context and with a view to their place in the
overall statutory scheme.”  FDA v. Brown & Williamson To-
bacco Corp., 529 U. S. 120, 133 (2000); see ante, at 16.  We 
do not assess the meaning of a single word, phrase, or pro-
vision in isolation; we also consider the overall statutory de-
sign.  And that is just as true of statutes broadly delegating
power to agencies as of any other kind.  In deciding on the
scope  of  such  a  delegation,  courts  must  assess  how  an 
agency action claimed to fall within the provision fits with
other aspects of a statutory plan.

So too, a court “must be guided to a degree by common 
sense as to the manner in which Congress is likely to dele-
gate.”  Brown & Williamson, 529 U. S., at 133.  Assume that 
a  policy  decision,  like  this  one,  is  a  matter  of  significant 
“economic  and  political  magnitude.”  Ibid.  We  know  that 
Congress delegates such decisions to agencies all the time—
and  often  via  broadly  framed  provisions  like  Section  111.
See infra, at 29–31.  But Congress does so in a sensible way.
To decide whether an agency action goes beyond what Con-
gress wanted, courts must assess (among other potentially 
relevant factors) the nature of the regulation, the nature of
the agency, and the relationship of the two to each other. 
See, e.g., Barnhart v. Walton, 535 U. S. 212, 222 (2002).  In 
particular, we have understood, Congress does not usually
grant agencies the authority to decide significant issues on 
which they have no particular expertise.  So when there is 
a  mismatch  between  the  agency’s  usual  portfolio  and  a
given  assertion  of  power,  courts  have  reason  to  question
whether Congress intended a delegation to go so far. 

The majority today goes beyond those sensible principles.