Post Loper Bright, Courts Differ On How To Handle Skidmore

For 40 years, courts applied the precedent set by the United States Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. National Resources Defense Council, Inc. by deferring to administrative agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. However, in its June 28, 2024, decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the United States Supreme Court overruled Chevron by holding that "[t]he Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority."¹ In other words, courts can no longer defer to an agency's interpretation of a statute solely because it is ambiguous.

While the Court clarified in Loper Bright that it was overruling Chevron, it did not specifically address the decision's implications on Skidmore deference, under which courts may give persuasive weight to administrative agencies' interpretations of statutes. Not surprisingly, circuit courts across the United States,