Richard Hong Quoted on Supreme Court’s Landmark Decision to Overturn Chevron Precedent in NPR and Reuters

Partner Richard Hong was quoted in NPR and Reuters regarding the Supreme Court’s latest landmark ruling aimed to curb federal agency powers. On June 28, 2024, the court overturned the 1984 Chevron precedent, which instructed lower court judges to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous federal statutes. The ruling was the second blow to the SEC's authority in two days. On June 27, the court restricted the ability of the SEC to enforce anti-fraud laws and impose penalties without a formal jury trial.

In the Reuters article, “Wall Street's Top Regulator Faces Worsening Battle in Wake of Supreme Court Ruling,” Richard, who served for 17 years as an SEC lawyer, called the ruling a “game-changer.” The article discussed how the Supreme Court's decisions could curtail the SEC’s efforts to establish new rules to police Wall Street firms and cryptocurrency players.

In the NPR article, “Supreme Court Just Made It Harder for Federal Agencies to Regulate in Sweeping Ruling,” Richard said, “If yesterday’s SEC v. Jarkesy decision was causing tremors, causing some dishes to tumble out from the cupboards, today’s case is a Richter-7 earthquake - the magnitude of the Hiroshima atomic bombing.”