Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel at S&C and former Chair of the SEC, and Judd Littleton, Co-Head of S&C’s Supreme Court and Appellate practice, spoke with Agenda about the Supreme Court’s grant of certiorari in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and the implications for the Chevron doctrine in the article “Supreme Court Case Could Limit Regulators’ Authority.” The Court agreed to consider whether to overturn the 1984 Supreme Court decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which held that federal courts must defer to a federal agency's reasonable interpretation of a statute when Congress is silent or ambiguous on how the agency should administer it.
Judd said the Court’s ruling will be important to heavily regulated companies because it could impact which policies regulators can make and enforce. “There will be more avenues for challenges to agency regulations if Chevron is overruled,” Judd said. At the same time, overruling Chevron could arguably lead to more predictability for businesses because agencies will have to stick close to the statutory text.
Jay said that the recalibration of Chevron will go a long way to ensuring that agencies are administrating and not legislating. “The core issue in these cases is the extent we should defer to the judgments of an administrative agency. Deference makes sense where Congress has given the agency specific tasks and resources,” he said. “Deference makes no sense when the agency is acting on its own or outside its core responsibilities. Agencies are there to administrate, not legislate.”
Read “Supreme Court Case Could Limit Regulators’ Authority.”