Chevron ‘Sleeps with the Fishes’: US Supreme Court Sinks Deference to Agency Interpretation of Statutes
July 8, 2024Oil & Gas, Energy Litigation, Power, Renewable Energy, SCOTUS, Liquefied Natural Gas, Regulatory, Energy, Department of Energy, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Wind, Solar, Government Enforcement, Energy & Infrastructure, FERC/Regulatory, Project Finance & Development , Projects & Energy Transition, Energy Transition, Conventional Power
On June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., which for 40 years required court deference to reasonable agency interpretations of federal statutes in certain circumstances, even when the reviewing court would read the statute differently. The Court ended “Chevron deference” and held that courts “must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority.” In doing so, the Court upended a longstanding principle of administrative law that is likely to make agency decisions more susceptible to challenge in the courts.
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