Regulated Entity challenges an agency's application of the APA's procedural rules in a contested adjudication. The agency argues the interpretation is subject to Chevron deference due to ambiguity in the APA. Is the agency's interpretation of the APA's procedural rules subject to Chevron deference?

Regulated Entity challenges an agency's application of the APA's procedural rules in a contested adjudication. The agency argues the interpretation is subject to Chevron deference due to ambiguity in the APA. Is the agency's interpretation of the APA's procedural rules subject to Chevron deference?

• A. No, a Federal Court does not have the authority to review an agency's application of the APA's procedural rules.
• B. No, the Federal Courts do not grant Chevron deference to an agency's interpretation of the APA.
• C. Yes, the interpretation should be given Chevron deference.
• D. Yes, because Chevron applies to all agency interpretations.

Answer: (B)

Chevron deference only applies when a court reviews an agency’s interpretation of a statute that the agency administers, and only if Congress delegated that interpretive authority and left the statute ambiguous. Here, the dispute is about how to apply the APA’s procedural rules—the very statute that governs agency adjudication. A court’s job is to interpret those procedural provisions, not to defer to the agency’s construction of them under Chevron. In other words, Chevron deference isn’t triggered by an agency’s interpretation of the APA itself. If deference is owed at all, it would come from theories applicable to interpretations of agency regulations (not the APA itself), not Chevron. So the agency’s claim to Chevron deference does not apply.

Chevron deference only applies when a court reviews an agency’s interpretation of a statute that the agency administers, and only if Congress delegated that interpretive authority and left the statute ambiguous. Here, the dispute is about how to apply the APA’s procedural rules—the very statute that governs agency adjudication. A court’s job is to interpret those procedural provisions, not to defer to the agency’s construction of them under Chevron. In other words, Chevron deference isn’t triggered by an agency’s interpretation of the APA itself. If deference is owed at all, it would come from theories applicable to interpretations of agency regulations (not the APA itself), not Chevron. So the agency’s claim to Chevron deference does not apply.