Is Chevron Inconsistent with the APA?

Abstract

Many people believe that the Chevron framework, calling for judicial deference to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutory provisions, is fatally inconsistent with section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act. An investigation of the historical context shows that this belief is incorrect. There is no indication that the provision was generally understood, in the 1940s and 1950s, to require independent judicial judgments about questions of law.