Courts will generally defer to an agency's construction of a statute within its area of expertise.

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This is known as the Chevron deference and is a principle of administrative law in the United States. It holds that if a statute is ambiguous or unclear, and a federal agency charged with interpreting the statute has made a reasonable interpretation, then courts should defer to that interpretation as long as it is not arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute. This deference is based on the idea that agencies have specialized expertise and are better able to interpret and implement complex statutes within their particular area of responsibility.

Courts Will Generally Defer to an Agency's Construction of a Statute