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Page Number: 34

26 

LOPER BRIGHT ENTERPRISES v. RAIMONDO 

Opinion of the Court 

The view that interpretation of ambiguous statutory pro-
visions amounts to policymaking suited for political actors 
rather than courts is especially mistaken, for it rests on a 
profound misconception of the judicial role.  It is reasonable 
to assume that Congress intends to leave policymaking to
political actors.  But resolution of statutory ambiguities in-
volves legal interpretation.  That task does not suddenly be-
come policymaking just because a court has an “agency to
fall back on.”  Kisor, 588 U. S., at 575 (opinion of the Court).
Courts interpret statutes, no matter the context, based on
the traditional tools of statutory construction, not individ-
ual  policy  preferences.    Indeed,  the  Framers  crafted  the 
Constitution  to  ensure  that  federal  judges  could  exercise 
judgment free from the influence of the political branches.
See The Federalist, No. 78, at 522–525.  They were to con-
strue the law with “[c]lear heads . . . and honest hearts,” not 
with an eye to policy preferences that had not made it into 
the statute.  1 Works of James Wilson 363 (J. Andrews ed. 
1896).

That is not to say that Congress cannot or does not confer
discretionary authority on agencies.  Congress may do so,
subject to constitutional limits, and it often has.  But to stay
out  of  discretionary  policymaking  left  to  the  political
branches,  judges  need  only  fulfill  their  obligations  under 
the APA to independently identify and respect such delega-
tions of authority, police the outer statutory boundaries of 
those delegations, and ensure that agencies exercise their 
discretion consistent with the APA.  By forcing courts to in-
stead pretend that ambiguities are necessarily delegations, 
Chevron  does  not  prevent  judges  from  making  policy.    It 
prevents them from judging. 

3 
  In  truth,  Chevron’s  justifying  presumption  is,  as  Mem-
bers of this Court have often recognized, a fiction.  See Buff-
ington v. McDonough, 598 U. S. ___, ___ (2022) (GORSUCH,