Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine Likely Leading to More Challenges to Federal Agency Regulations

Last week the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron doctrine, established in 1984, which had directed courts to defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous laws. This Supreme Court decision states that the Administrative Procedures Act does not require executive agencies to be given deference in their rule making when a term in a statute is ambiguous. The 6-3 decision opens a new chapter in the balance of power between the federal government and the courts. The decision could lead to more conflicting decisions on regulatory challenges and require Congress to write statutes with specificity to avoid legal ambiguities. It is a significant decision and will open up federal agency rulemaking to increased litigation in the future. Many policy analysts are stating that the Supreme Court decision could chip away at numerous federal agency regulations, including some recent Biden administration policies, by leading to more challenges of agency regulations in court and could potentially slow down or complicate the regulatory process across various sectors of government.