The Post-Chevron Toolkit - A New Era For Regulatory Review

INTRODUCTION

In a landmark ruling on 28 June 2024, the US Supreme Court expressly overruled the 40-yearold Chevron doctrine with its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, ¹ eliminating the requirement that courts defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes.

Congress cannot implicitly delegate authority through ambiguous terms, agencies no longer have a thumb on the scale when construing unclear statutes, and the courts have reasserted their role as the ultimate arbiter of what federal laws mean. The resulting effects are far-reaching. The Loper Bright decision affects every industry that is regulated by US federal agencies, and it is expected to usher in more frequent judicial challenges to agency rules, greater scrutiny of agency actions, and a different approach to lawmaking by Congress.