Unanimous SCOTUS Strengthens Regulators’ Hand

The Supreme Court has ruled that federal agencies do not have to go through a public notification and comment period before altering their interpretation of an agency rule. The decision in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association, with an opinion authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was unanimous. The case involved a Department of Labor interpretation of a wage and hour matter, but this is a significant decision that will have a wide impact and may not be welcome news for any business relying on consistency in agency regulatory interpretations, according to a post from Mintz Levin. The author adds that this decision has brought another and larger controversy into the foreground – the degree to which courts need to defer to agency interpretations – and there is reason to believe that issue will be revisited in some future Supreme Court case.