This judicial populist view of government imagines a strict separation between law and politics. It elevates the president, who is selected in a nationwide election, to embody the people’s will and rule over the political sphere with little interference. The Supreme Court, with its power to say what the law is, rules over the legal one.

Note what this vision leaves out: legislatures and agencies, our primary institutions for considering divergent interests and views, mediating disputes and reaching compromises key to democratic governance. Agencies are required to provide opportunities for public participation, respond to significant comments, and justify their decisions, which a court can overturn for being legally impermissible or simply arbitrary. These are much stronger strictures than those that constrain our courts or even our legislatures.

Eliminating Chevron would fit hand in glove with judicial populism. A judicial populist opinion might cast bureaucrats as arrogant and impervious to the voice of the people. Of course, regulations often govern the relations of different social groups and can even protect the interests of some people (like consumers or employees) from the domination of others (like the financial industry or employers).