The prospect of a new Supreme Court justice brings a renewed focus on many of the Court's controversial doctrines. While much of the speculation on Judge Amy Coney Barret’s nomination has focused on social issues such as abortion, she could be a critical vote in the Court’s future on Chevron deference. Chevron deference— named for the 1984 Supreme Court decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — holds that courts should defer to an agency's interpretation of a statute when its language does not clearly answer the question at issue, provided the agency interpretation is reasonable. This has often allowed agencies to turn statutory ambiguity into a justification for expanding the scope of their authority. This authorit...

Judge Amy Coney Barrett has written opinions on a wide variety of labor issues in her short time on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Barrett has demonstrated herself to be impartial, rendering rulings in favor of both employers and employees and basing her decisions on a strict factual examination in each case. Like her mentor Justice Scalia, Judge Barrett follows where the law takes her, not where she may wish it would go.