Supreme Court Overturns Chevron Doctrine

The US Supreme Court has overturned the Chevron doctrine, a 40-year-old rule that allowed federal agencies to interpret ambiguous laws without judicial review.

The decision, handed down on June 28, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, affects businesses, farmers, taxpayers, and local governments nationwide, including those in western North Carolina.

The Chevron doctrine held that courts should defer to reasonable federal agency interpretations of ambiguous laws, but the Supreme Court ruled that judges must now exercise their own judgment when determining what federal law means.

In this case, a group of Atlantic herring fishermen challenged a regulation imposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which required them to pay up to $710 per day for government-certified observers on their vessels. The fishermen argued that the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act did not authorize the agency to require them to pay those costs.

The Supreme Court held that the Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise their independent judgment, rather than deferring to an agency's interpretation of a law simply because it is ambiguous.