The Chevron Doctrine

Wise and illuminating…Merrill’s treatment of the rise of Chevron, and its various twists and turns over the decades, is keenly insightful. -- Cass R. Sunstein * New York Review of Books * Merrill’s book tracks the doctrine’s history from its curious origins through its unlikely rise and expansion in a hundred-plus Supreme Court decisions to the fairly recent ‘sudden collapse of support for the doctrine’ among legal scholars and judges. His chapters on Chevron’s tortuous trajectory are a must-read for practicing or prospective administrative lawyers. They, as well as a broader audience, will find much good sense in the author’s judicious treatment of perennial questions of lawful government. -- Michael S. Greve * Claremont Review of Books * Merrill has provided a rich account of how the Chevron doctrine came to be…A thorough and theoretically sophisticated legal analysis. -- William F. West * Congress & the Presidency * Merrill’s rich history, his weighing of the comparative advantages of judicial and agency lawmaking, and his reflections on judicial and political choices to date provide informative guideposts for future decisions. * Choice * Students of administrative law, the Constitution, Congress, or the federal courts will find much to mull about the operation and legitimacy of the U.S. administrative state. * Library Journal * Merrill’s interpretive and reform arguments in this fine work of scholarship are mature and sophisticated. This deeply considered work will enrich the ongoing debate. -- Ronald M. Levin, Washington University School of Law Tom Merrill is one of the best scholars in the nation to undertake a book-length treatment of the Chevron doctrine. Thoughtful and nuanced, Merrill’s The Chevron Doctrine will be a ‘must-read’ not only for any lawyer or scholar involved in the field of administrative law, but also for any scholar interested in American legal thought of the past half century. -- John F. Duffy, University of Virginia School of Law This book is a model of how to conduct rigorous, level-headed, and fair-minded analysis of a subject that has generated enormous legal controversy. There is no more judicious mind among American legal scholars than Thomas Merrill’s. -- Nicholas Parrillo, Yale Law School Tom Merrill is one of the brightest and best scholars of administrative law, and in particular of the Chevron doctrine, in his generation. This book sheds new light on the most controversial subjects in the law of the separation of powers and in administrative law. It is must-reading for any citizen who has an interest in the constitutionality of the administrative state. -- Steven G. Calabresi, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law