major questions doctrine
Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution states:
“The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows.”
This clause vests the executive power solely in the President, establishing the constitutional foundation for separation of powers and limiting how far federal administrative agencies may exercise regulatory authority.
The major questions doctrine is a structural principle of administrative law that restricts federal agencies from interpreting statutes and asserting broad policymaking powers of great economic or political significance without a clear congressional mandate. The doctrine ensures that significant national policy decisions remain with Congress, consistent with the Constitution’s allocation of legislative and executive authority.
In Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, 573 U.S. 302 (2014), the Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency could not interpret the Clean Air Act to cover millions of small pollution sources such as office buildings and residential structures, as Congress had not explicitly authorized that scope of regulation. In West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. 697 (2022), the Court reaffirmed the doctrine, holding that the EPA lacked authority under the Clean Air Act to require a nationwide shift in electricity generation from coal to cleaner sources. The Court emphasized that decisions of major “magnitude and consequence” must rest with Congress unless it clearly delegates such authority to an agency.
The doctrine featured prominently during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Supreme Court struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s national eviction moratorium in Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health & Human Services, 594 U.S. 758 (2021), and the Court stayed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate in National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, 595 U.S. 109 (2022), finding that Congress had not clearly empowered either agency to take such actions.
[Last reviewed in November of 2025 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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