There are seismic tremors rocking the U.S. regulatory state. Chevron deference is dead, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is attempting to make large cuts in federal spending and hiring, and President Donald Trump has brought "independent" agencies to heel with increased presidential oversight. Also notable—though it has received little fanfare—is that late last year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear FCC v. Consumers' Research, a case that could shake the foundations of the modern administrative state.
Congress routinely passes vague, open-ended statutes, leaving major elements of policymaking to unelected bureaucrats. Unfortunately, courts have been reluctant to rule that Congress has delegated too much power to an agency since the New Deal. Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard, once quipped that the so-called nondelegation doctrine "has had one good year"—1935, when the Supreme Court struck down two vague laws—and over 200 "bad ones."
However, a few years ago, several justices signaled a willingness to revive the nondelegation doctrine, and FCC v. Consumers' Research involves one of the most egregious examples of congressional abdication to an agency in modern memory.
