Delegation must be specific.

Because agencies have no inherent authority to establish laws in the form of regulations, they need a specific delegation from Congress, which exercises legislative power under the Constitution. While Congress may delegate its authority to administrative agencies, Supreme Court precedent has required that Congress provide “intelligible principles” in the statutory delegation because it reflects a shift in constitutional authority from the legislative branch to the executive branch. In other words, the “non-delegation doctrine” requires a congressional delegation to be limited and not open-ended to preserve the separation of powers. Thus, Congress is prohibited from granting broad, general rulemaking authority, and agencies should issue rules consistent with a particular, limited congressional grant of authority. The Court in West Virginia grounds the major questions doctrine in the separation of powers, holding that the congressional delegation for agency rulemaking authority should be very clear, specific, and not left to the agencies to interpret in matters with extraordinary economic and political significance. Therefore, the decision’s second burden shift is to Congress, by requiring more legislative rigor when Congress wishes to give an agency the power to decide “major questions.”