Five Questions with Vanderbilt Law Professor Lisa Bressman

What is Chevron deference, and why should I care?

Lisa Bressman is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a tenured professor at Vanderbilt Law School. She is our guest tonight for “Five Questions with…”

Professor Bressman’s niche as a legal scholar is administrative law and statutory interpretation. She is one of the most cited academics in the area of administrative law. She joined the faculty at Vanderbilt Law in 1998 after working in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice and serving as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. She has the ability to transcend legalese and explain her highly specialized area of the law in plain English.

Because of that, she’s just the right person to talk with us about the recent news that the Supreme Court is going to hear a case next term about “Chevron deference,” when it takes up Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. She’ll help us understand what that means and why we should care when there are so many other pressing legal issues already on our plates.

Also important: Lisa and I are friends in real life. We have a shared love of knitting and have been to retreats and knitting events over the years. She is a truly wonderful knitter, who jumps into complicated sweater patterns like the one she’s pictured in below with no hesitation and comes up with amazing results. So it’s a special pleasure to share her legal brilliance with you.

 Five Questions is a feature for paid subscribers to Civil Discourse; all other posts are available to free subscribers as well. I value having everyone here, but this feature is my way of thanking those who support my work, which lets me devote more time to it.