The Supreme Court's decision in the consolidated cases of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce has far-reaching implications for administrative law and environmental regulation. Delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, the ruling overrules the long-standing Chevron deference doctrine, fundamentally altering the regulatory landscape and potentially leading to the reclassification of CO2 as a pollutant.

...Since 1984, Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. required courts to defer to federal agencies' reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes. This two-step framework first assesses whether Congress has directly addressed the precise issue and then, if the statute is ambiguous, defers to the agency's permissible interpretation.

The Supreme Court's recent decision arose from two cases involving the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). The cases challenged the agency's authority to require Atlantic herring fishermen to pay for at-sea observers. Lower courts had upheld the NMFS rule, relying on Chevron deference to resolve statutory ambiguities in favor of the agency's interpretation.