Elon Musk says that the U.S. Supreme Court, in a recent decision, essentially okayed the "gutting" of the federal government. 

This is according to a new report from Business Insider.

The Supreme Court ruling that Musk is referring to is the one that struck down Chevron.

Scotus Blog explains:

By a vote of 6-3, the justices overruled their landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which gave rise to the doctrine known as the Chevron doctrine. Under that doctrine, if Congress has not directly addressed the question at the center of a dispute, a court was required to uphold the agency’s interpretation of the statute as long as it was reasonable. But in a 35-page ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts, the justices rejected that doctrine, calling it “fundamentally misguided.”

A win for DOGE?

Musk along with Vivek Ramaswamy have been chosen by President-Elect Donald Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump has explained the purpose of the department, writing:

Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my adminstraiton to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies - Essential to the "Save America" Movement.

Ramaswamy and Musk are claiming that the Supreme Court's ruling will be a big help to them.

The legal community, however, is not convinced.

The Supreme Court this year overturned “Chevron deference” in its Loper Bright ruling, which deals a seismic blow to federal bureaucracy. Under the old standard, federal courts deferred to agency interpretations of law when a statute was deemed ambiguous. That’s no longer the…

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 2, 2024

Here's why:

According to experts with whom Business Insider spoke, the Supreme Court's ruling may actually end up hurting the goals of DOGE.

Per the outlet:

Some legal experts said that's likely not the case, telling Business Insider that the Supreme Court's overturning of Chevron could actually constrain DOGE because it takes away an agency's power to interpret rules and make decisions independently.

The outlet quotes another legal expert as saying:

If the agency were to try to adopt a new reading of the law—perhaps one that DOGE prefers—and to use that to justify rescinding the rule, the courts would stop the agency," Bagley wrote. "Saying that Loper Bright gives DOGE flexibility is about as sensible as saying that handcuffs help when throwing a baseball.

This is a complicated legal issue, and, at the time of this writing, it is not clear how things are going to play out. It is not even clear whether Musk and Ramaswamy have the support of Congress.

They do, though, seem to have the support of many Americans.