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Today, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled a longstanding precedent set in 1984 with Chevron vs. Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the most cited cases in American law. More than 17,000 lower court cases and 70 Supreme Court decisions were based on Chevron.

The principle of the 1984 ruling allowed regulatory agencies the power to interpret laws that were left vague and open to interpretation by Congress. The thinking was that Congress couldn’t anticipate all the consequences of laws it passed, and as such the regulatory agencies would be in a position to make those interpretations. 

Today’s ruling shifts the responsibility to the Courts, especially when a statute is ambiguous. “Courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority opinion.

He said that the ruling does not question prior cases that relied on the precedent, but going forward lower courts “may not defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is ambiguous.”

While there are anticipated to be many legal battles on past cases and regulations, today’s ruling does certainly apply to future regulations and provides an avenue for many legal challenges, especially in cases of regulatory overreach that many manufacturers and others may have experienced.