In 2016, I wrote an article about Zubik v. Burwell and United States v. Texas. In this piece, I discussed the "major question doctrine." Or was it the "major questions doctrine"? Really, I wasn't even sure what label to use. I remember searching decisions to find some clarity on what to call it, and failed. Hell, it wasn't even a real "doctrine" at the time. For reasons I cannot recall, I settled on "major question doctrine" (singular).
Here is how I described the doctrine in 2016--and it passed the eagle-eyes of the Harvard Law Review editors:
Under the familiar rule established in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.,courts will defer to an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute, so long as the interpretation is reasonable. In a series of somewhat disjointed cases over the past two decades, the Supreme Court has carved out an important but under-theorized exception to Chevron. When a regulation implicates a "major question" the agency is owed no deference.
