The Supreme Court’s 2023-2024 Term upended the administrative state as we knew it when the Court overturned a 40-year precedent that established that courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes, known as Chevron deference. The reversal of Chevron, in conjunction with the Court’s recent decisions in Jarkesy and Corner Post, will likely place significant constraints on Executive Branch lawmaking and will inject significant uncertainty into the regulatory landscape.
These decisions are expected to have sweeping effects, including a substantial increase in litigation around regulatory agencies and challenges to federal regulations going back decades. Critical new agency rules promulgated by the Biden Administration—already subject to scrutiny and court challenges—may now be even more vulnerable in the absence of Chevron.