Chevron Doctrine Overturned: What This Means for Philanthropy

credit: John Peter Lee, Ltd.

The Supreme Court today struck down a 30-year-old rule that allowed the IRS to target conservative groups on the basis of their politics.

In a 5-4 decision, the court overturned Chevron's doctrine of "Chevron deference," which required courts to defer to the discretion of federal agencies when laws were ambiguous, the AP reports.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion.

"The Framers, as noted, anticipated that courts would often confront statutory ambiguities and expected that courts would resolve them by exercising independent legal judgment," he wrote.

The decision "will help curb the unchecked power of the administrative state and is likely to have wide ranging impact across all economic sectors, including philanthropy," says a statement from the Center for American Progress, which had been pushing for the ruling.

The ruling revolves around the IRS targeting the Tea Party and other conservative groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.

The groups argued that they were being singled out for extra scrutiny because of their politics, and the court disagreed.

In his opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Chevron "curbs the judicial power afforded to courts, and simultaneously expands agencies' executive power beyond constitutional limits."

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

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