What the downfall of Chevron deference would mean for economic regulations

The Supreme Court appears poised to scrap or revise a long-standing ruling that relates to how agencies interpret ambiguous statutes, with major implications for regulations that touch many aspects of commerce.

A decision to undo the 40-year-old precedent known as the Chevron deference, or the Chevron doctrine, will have repercussions in the business world, affecting rulemaking in areas as varied as finance, healthcare, and technology.

The so-called Chevron doctrine came as a result of Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that courts should defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes.