The Seventh Circuit judge, nominated by President Donald Trump to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is on track for confirmation Monday night and would join the high court at a time of rising conservative disdain for the Supreme Court’s 1984 ruling in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
The landmark ruling — which every year decides the fate of numerous lawsuits involving energy, the environment, health care, immigration and other issues — generally requires that courts defer to reasonable regulatory interpretations of ambiguous statutory terms. That approach has become increasingly loathsome to some right-leaning jurists — including several Supreme Court justices — ostensibly worried about arming the executive branch with undue powers.