Warm‐Up (10 minutes)
Part 1
Step 1: Pass out sticky notes (or, if you prefer to be paperless, have students create a document on their computer). Ask students to take out their graphic organizers from the prework and “SIT” with their thoughts about the readings. Share that they should think of one thing that surprised them about the court case (S), one thing that interested them (I), and one thing that troubled them (T). Give students about 3 minutes to jot down their thoughts.
Step 2: Have students pair with a neighbor to SIT together. Remind students of discussion norms, encourage active listening, and provide 2 minutes for each student to share their thoughts.
Step 3: Welcome students back to a whole‐group discussion and ask for volunteers to share their thoughts.
Part 2
Step 1: Transition to the second part of the warm‐up by asking students to recall the 3 branches of government and share examples of what agencies might constitute those branches. Some examples are the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Energy. Then proceed as a class to fill out the first column of the KWL chart.
Know
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Want to Know
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Learned
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What do we know about the relationship between executive branch agencies, such as the EPA, and the legislative branch with regard to interpreting laws and setting regulations?
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What do we want to know about the relationship between executive branch agencies, such as the EPA, and the legislative branch with regard to interpreting laws and setting regulations?
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What have we learned about the relationship between executive branch agencies, such as the EPA, and the legislative branch with regard to interpreting laws and setting regulations?
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Step 2: State that regulations are rules set forth by agencies of the federal government to ensure that the laws Congress passes are followed. The EPA is an example of a federal
agency that interprets laws from Congress to set regulations on various industry activities such as turning waste allotments into fresh water and how manufacturers monitor chemical emissions.
Step 3: Debrief column 1 and then proceed to column 2.
Step 4: Share with students that in today’s lesson they will be exploring the relationship between agencies in the executive branch and courts in the legislative branch. Students will then examine how these agencies set forth regulations regarding environmental policy under the reversal of the Chevron deference.
Explain to students that in 2024, the Supreme Court reviewed the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which centered on a group of commercial fishermen suing the National Marine Fisheries Service for charging $710 per day for funding at‐sea monitoring programs. The premise of the lawsuit was a regulation based on an agency interpretation of the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976. In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that ambiguous statutes should remain with the courts to interpret, not federal agencies, thereby overturning the precedent of the Chevron deference that had been in place for over 40 years.
Note: In the articles they will be analyzing, students should expect to gather viewpoint‐ diverse evidence on perspectives regarding intended and unintended consequences that might arise from the policy reversal. The students’ goal in conducting text analysis will be to identify the reasoning for the different perspectives and build their own opinions regarding the impacts of the policy reversal in the field of environmental policy. At the end of the class session, students will bring their opinions to a Socratic discussion.
Lesson Activities
Activity 1—Text Analysis ( 30 minutes)
Step 1: Split students into 2 group sections. One section will analyze the 3 articles on the Chevron deference, and the other section will analyze the 2 articles on the economics of environmental policy regulation. Adjust group size as appropriate for your class needs.
Step 2: Ask students to open a shared copy of the graphic organizer below and locate the reading section to which they have been assigned.
Chevron Reversal Groups
Regulation Groups
Step 3: Explain to students that they will fill out their section with information from their assignment article and use evidence from the text to support their answers. After students have read the articles, encourage each group to identify a notetaker to type what they discuss and their answers.
Step 4: Ask students to share their findings and engage in a brief whole‐group discussion.
Activity 2—KWL Revisited ( 10 minutes)
Step 1: Direct students back to the KWL chart. Ask students to share the answers to the third column and ask if there is anything they would add to the second column.
Step 2: Explain to students that they will engage in a Socratic seminar in which they will discuss the following 3 questions:
- To what extent should courts instead of federal agencies decide a statute’s meaning? How does this affect environmental policy?
- What are the intended and unintended consequences of environmental regulation policy on the economy?
- How does regulation hinder or advance human progress in addressing sustainable practices for the environment?
Preview these questions with students, and share that they should come prepared to discuss their perspectives using evidence from the texts they analyzed with their peers to evaluate the overall impact of the Chevron deference on environmental policy.
Exit Ticket (5 minutes)
Ask students to revisit their SIT sticky note. Ask them to add any information that changed their perspective on their answers.