{"id":888,"date":"2024-08-16T17:39:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-16T17:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/?p=888"},"modified":"2024-08-16T18:03:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T18:03:16","slug":"regulation-station-how-the-end-of-the-chevron-doctrine-may-affect-business-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/16\/regulation-station-how-the-end-of-the-chevron-doctrine-may-affect-business-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulation Station: How the End of the Chevron Doctrine may Affect Business Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On June 28th, 2024 the Supreme Court issued its opinions on Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce<\/em>\u00a0(2024) and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/em> (2024) effectively ending the Chevron<\/em> doctrine<\/a>. The Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overrule the Chevron doctrine has sparked substantial debate in the legal and business communities. While some view the end of Chevron<\/em> deference as a potential source of legal uncertainty, others suggests that this ruling will ultimately benefit businesses by reducing the likelihood that they will be subject to executive overreach and unfair regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chevron Doctrine: A Brief Recap<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Chevron<\/em> doctrine, established in\u00a0Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council<\/em> (1984), mandated that courts defer to federal agencies’ statutory interpretations in instances where Congress had not directly addressed the issue, provided those interpretations were reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly four decades, Chevron<\/em> allowed agencies significant leeway in interpreting and enforcing laws. While this flexibility enabled agencies to adapt regulations to changing circumstances, it also created a regulatory environment where agencies were accused of overstepping their authority and creating overly-burdensome regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The End of Chevron: Implications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The most evident implication of the end of the Chevron<\/em> doctrine is that courts and not Federal agencies will be responsible for clearing of legislative ambiguities. The decision in Loper Bright <\/em>and Relentless<\/em> do not, however, completely gut the ability of agencies to interpret laws. Instead, per the majority opinion in Loper Bright<\/em>, courts are expected to “respectfully consider” agency interpretations. This signals a return to the doctrine set forth in Skidmore v. Swift & Co.<\/em>, 323 U. S. 134 (1944). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes created by the overruling of Chevron <\/em>are unlikely to be felt immediately. Instead, the ruling will likely lead to gradual changes are regulatory regimes begin to face legal challenges. For U.S. businesses, the long term effects may be as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Challenges to Agency Rules Will Become Common<\/strong>: <\/strong>There will likely be more challenges to regulatory rules set forth by Federal agencies. For instance, there are already cases being fought over the FTC’s new non-compete rule<\/a>. As more and more regulations are challenged, businesses may find the regulatory landscape to slowly shift.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Legal Uncertainty<\/strong>: As courts become the arbiters on regulatory rules, some businesses may be left feeling uncertain and confused on what is good law. In general, most businesses will likely act as if a regulation is valid until overturned. This means policies and procedures could shift dramatically when rules are implemented and subsequently overturned.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Regulatory Overreach May Be Reduced<\/strong>: Given the increased likelihood of litigation when an agency issues a ruling on an ambiguous matter, we may see more care and consideration being taken by agencies when creating such rules. Agencies may begin to look more towards Congress for clarity on these matters as well. This would likely be beneficial to businesses that feel restrained by such regulations, but critics argue that it will limit the ability of agencies to keep up with an changing world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion:\u00a0Less Regulation but More Uncertainty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In the long run, the the Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overrule Chevron<\/em> is expected to create a more favorable regulatory environment for businesses, but in the short term there may be a great deal of uncertainty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It can be difficult to know what is good law in a changing regulatory environment<\/a>. The attorneys at Dugger & Key have decades of experience working with clients across a broad range of industries. Please feel free to contact us<\/a> to discuss how changing regulations may impact your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On June 28th, 2024 the Supreme Court issued its opinions on Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce\u00a0(2024) and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024) effectively ending the Chevron doctrine. The Supreme Court\u2019s decision to overrule the Chevron doctrine has sparked substantial debate in the legal and business communities. While some view the end of Chevron […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[25,26],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-compliance","tag-regulations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":891,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/duggerkey.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}