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The Brand X Constitution, Richard W. Murphy

Richard W. Murphy

In recent years, the Supreme Court’s claim to be the final, definitive interpreter of the Constitution has come under sustained attack from across the political spectrum from scholars pushing for a more “popular” constitutionalism. This Article contributes to “popular constitutionalism” by deploying recent developments in the Supreme Court’s own administrative-law doctrine against it. Together, these Chevron-related developments form the Brand X model, which stands broadly for the proposition that, where an agency uses transparent, deliberative means to adopt a reasonable interpretation of a statute it administers, the courts should defer to this interpretation regardless of whether it contradicts judicial precedent. …