Generally speaking, it’s difficult to drum up excitement about administrative law (except amongst those of us who deal regularly in the labor and employment law arena, and other highly regulated areas of law). That has now changed given the Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises, Inc. v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. __ (2024) (Loper Bright). This decision will undoubtedly have a meaningful impact on the future of labor and employment law, and how employers will likely (and should) approach problem-solving and litigation in the future. It’s critical that employers now pay attention, if they have not been already.
On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984) (Chevron). The end of Chevron means the end of decades of deference given by courts to federal agencies when an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous or silent text in a federal statute was challenged. That is a big deal. With the ushering in of Loper Bright, courts “may not defer to an agency interpretation of law simply because a statute is ambiguous” because courts, rather than agencies, have sole competency to resolve statutory ambiguity. Because countless statutes task federal agencies with administering and enforcing laws, issuing rules and regulations, and deciding disputes—often requiring an agency to fill in a gap or construe statutory text—the end of Chevron deference is truly a once in a generation change in law. No longer...
President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the stock market had “hit a new high” on Thursday, while the Dow plunged over three hundred points. Trump spoke to press while visiting the Lincoln Memo...