Posted on 03/03/2016 8:05:41 AM PST by xzins
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a plea Thursday to block a contentious air pollution rule for power plants, in a big victory for the Obama administration.
Roberts’s order came despite his court’s 5-4 decision last year ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation, known as mercury and air toxics standards, is illegal.
Michigan led a group of 20 states last month, empowered by the Supreme Court’s recent unprecedented decision to halt the EPA’s climate change rule for power plants, in asking the court to live up to its ruling last year and block the regulation’s enforcement. “Unless this court stays or enjoins further operation of the Mercury and Air Toxics rule, this court’s recent decision in Michigan v. EPA will be thwarted,” the states wrote in a Feb. 23 filing with the court.
“A stay or injunction is appropriate because this court has already held that the finding on which the rule rests in unlawful and beyond EPA’s statutory authority.”
The EPA responded that no judicial stay is necessary, since it’s working to fix the problem the court identified by next month, and the states would not suffer irreparable harm in that time.
“The requested stay would harm the public interest by undermining reliance interests and the public health and environmental benefits associated with the rule,” the government said. “The application lacks merit and should be denied.”
Roberts acted swiftly, waiting less than a day after the EPA’s response brief to side with the Obama administration. He acted unilaterally, electing to reject the request himself rather than take it to the full court, which may have led to a 4-4 split following Justice Antonin Scalia’s death.
The court ruled last June that the EPA should have conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the regulation before it even decided to start writing it. The agency did so as part of the regulatory process, but the justices said that was not sufficient.
But the Supreme Court did not overturn the rule at the time, and the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in December that the EPA could keep enforcing it.
Environmental groups were very pleased with Roberts’s decision.
Because he knows no one will pursue it, since the court can only make rulings on a case by case basis until there is a ninth justice when they can make precedent.
Thus until there is a ninth we will see more plants closing and electrical rates rise, else die of heat stroke in the summer and freeze to dearth in the winter.
How ironic? This from a supreme court who’s building is supplied power from a coal fired power plant that is exempt from the same rules applying to the rest of the nation.
Par for the course. Just read up on the Colorado decision in Romer v Evans. The majority vote of many Coloradans was taken away. And John Roberts was promoting the degenerates position. These anti-American decisions will keep coming for the remainder of Roberts time on the bench.
It’s past time for states to ignore outrageous USSC rulings. States should turn to the U.S. Congress for relief from burdensome regulations, not the USSC.
The REAL Trojan Horse !
LOL did not know that.
You hit the nail on the head there! Huge disappointment! Terrible Jurist!
This judgment just sentenced many Americans to a life of poverty. The cheaper energy is, the more money people have to improve themselves. Man-made global warming is a sham designed to en-slave the middle class to the ruling class.
That is unfair. There was almost a universal belief that Roberts was a strict constructionist. Everyone at the time was certain this guy was the real deal, not just Cruz.
Yeah ... and it took three times to swear obozo in as undocumented worker in the white mosque !
Ann Coulter & Charles Krauthammer warned us.
Roberts is just another Souter - only much, much worse. They have pictures of him with a dead hooker or a live little boy is the only thing I can figure.
Justice Roberts is being bribed—like all Congressmen who go with a totalitarian agenda.
He is probably like Rubio, with a homosexual past and plenty of pictures to destroy him and his family so he would never be able to function in society again.
Guaranteed that when Roberts was “nominated”they knew EVERY weak point of this man. Libido Dominandi-—it is how the world is run today-—bribes/lobby groups/corporations-—run by the 400 elites who want total control of all land and activities of every single person.
No one is in place of power unless they are OWNED and CONTROLLED.
It is the Leviathan-—and it is satanism. it is why God’s Laws are ejected-—they have complete control off all three branches of our government now.
“They” must have flashed the blackmail card again!
TREASON! How do they think electricity is made? By fairy dust?
I have become increasingly of the opinion that Justice Robert's goofy rulings are entirely due to racism. Pro-Obama racism.
As the Chief Justice who swore Obama into the office of the Presidency, John Roberts has become a lick-spittle to the idea that the "FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT EVER!!!!!" must *NOT* be a failure.
As a result, Robert's has been bending over backwards trying to accommodate this idiot, because Robert's DESPERATELY wants to protect the legacy of "his baby".
There is this certain class of white people who have a serious amount of "white guilt" bothering them all the time, and who's social circle "herd mentality" is along the lines of "We must do everything we possibly can to protect and advance the poor down trodden black folk" and as a result they simply lose objectivity when a negative focus is placed on one of those people they regard as their "wards."
Obama is like one of Robert's adopted children. Robert's is behaving like a protective father because he doesn't want people thinking ill of his idiot child.
That is the only thing that makes sense. Roberts is emotionally involved in protecting his little baby Obama.
Fairy dust has to be the answer.
It sure as heck isn’t wind and solar.
See my theory posted above.
Roberts is exactly what was ordered. He is a Harvard Summa cum laude. That means he excelled at being very clever at doing exactly what he was told, without displaying any wisdom or humanity or individuality. Polish without underlying substance. He excelled at the race to the top of the turtle heap.
That is completely unfair. None of us thought Roberts would behave this way. Roberts is acting completely different than any of us would have believed possible.
A Mistake is only a mistake if you have some way of predicting that a decision will go badly. There was no indication at all that Roberts would turn into a kook.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.