This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. Alongside Amicus, we kicked things off this year by explaining How Originalism Ate the Law. The best way to support our work is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)

Last week, the conservative majority used its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to overturn a long-settled and important precedent, the 40-year-old decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council. That case had established what is called Chevron deference, a doctrine requiring that judges defer to the reasonable judgment of executive branch officials when reviewing executive branch regulations.

As law professor Kate Shaw explains it, “Chevron deference allowed agencies to use their expertise to determine how to carry out laws passed by Congress—laws intended to keep our air and water clean, our drugs safe and effective and our securities markets protected from fraud and deception.”

As bad as that decision is on the merits, a look at what Chief Justice John Roberts said about Chevron places in stark relief the current court’s ruthlessness and its arrogant disregard for the traditions of the rule of law itself.

Content not just to overturn precedent, Roberts and his ultraconservative fellow travelers seem eager to display a self-confident superiority and disrespect for justices who served previously and tried to faithfully interpret the law.

Their willingness to trash their predecessors is disturbing and dangerous. While flexing its muscle, the court’s current conservative majority is acting in ways that undermine public confidence in the court itself.

Before looking at what Roberts said in overturning the Chevron decision, let’s look at how the court has traditionally handled the delicate task of upending precedent and explaining its reasons for doing so.

The first thing to note is that from 1810—the first time the court overturned a precedent—to 2022, the Supreme Court has overturned precedent 235 times. But from 1810 to 1940, the court overruled precedent in only 48 cases.

In fact, it was not until 1871 that the Supreme Court used the........

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