On May 16, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case asking the Court to reconsider its own precedent that requires federal courts to defer to an administrative agency’s interpretation of its own regulations. The decision was a setback for WLF, which filed a brief urging the Court to grant review. Decided nearly 20 years ago, Auer v. Robbins requires federal judges to give an agency’s interpretation of its own rules “controlling” weight. In its brief, joined by Professor Philip Hamburger of Columbia Law School, WLF argued that by requiring judges to reflexively defer to the legal interpretations of federal bureaucrats in administrative agencies, Auer not only asks jurists to abandon their Article III duty of independent judgment, but creates a systematic bias in favor of the federal government in violation of due process of law. Echoing themes from WLF’s brief, Justice Thomas dissented from Court’s certiorari denial and strongly criticized the “metastasized” Auer doctrine.