Anti-Tobacco Groups Cite Chevron in Suit on FDA’s Menthol Delay

Public health groups suing the FDA for delaying a ban on menthol cigarettes are leveraging the Supreme Court’s decision gutting the Chevron doctrine to underscore that a federal court should exercise independent judgment in determining the meaning of statutory provisions.

A supplemental filing from four health groups—the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, Action on Smoking and Health, National Medical Association, and American Medical Association—came after the US Supreme Court’s opinion on June 28 in Loper Bright Enters. v. Raimondo, which ended the decades-old Chevron doctrine.

Under the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, courts ...