The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday constrained the power of federal agencies, scaling back a legal doctrine that calls for judges to give agencies deference to interpret their own rules but declining to eliminate it as four conservative justices wanted. The court, in a ruling written by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, unanimously sided with a Vietnam War veteran who sued the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after being denied retroactive disability benefits. “So the doctrine emerges maimed and enfeebled – in truth, zombified,” wrote conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who had wanted to terminate Auer deference.
