In a 2015 case involving the Environmental Protection Agency, Justice Thomas wrote that the wide berth Chevron afforded bureaucrats meant the court was “blithely giving the force of law” to “agency ‘interpretations’ of federal statutes” (note the scare quotes) and thereby straying “further and further from the constitution”. For Justice Gorsuch, who was railing against Chevron when he was still a judge on the 10th circuit court of appeals, agency deference is akin to “judicial abdication”.
The plaintiffs in Loper Bright and Relentless are banking on at least three more justices keen on reining in the administrative state.