Chevron deference

Okay kiddo, so you know how sometimes you ask your teacher a question and they tell you the answer? Just like that, sometimes judges (who are like grown-up teachers) have to decide what the rules mean when people argue about them in court.

But sometimes the rules can be tricky to understand, so judges use something called "chevron deference" to help them make their decisions.

When a judge uses chevron deference, they basically say "let's listen to what the people who made the rules (like the government) have to say about how it should be understood." They give a lot of respect to what these rule-makers say, because they're the ones who spent a lot of time working on it and know it the best.

So if the government says "this rule means X," the judge will likely listen to them and say "okay, we'll go with X." But if the government says "this rule means Y," the judge will also listen to them and say "okay, we'll go with Y."

This way, there's less arguing about what the rules actually mean, because the judge is giving a lot of trust to the people who made the rules in the first place.

Do you have any more questions about chevron deference, kiddo?