Posted on 06/30/2022 8:48:40 AM PDT by karpov
The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s powers to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants, in a decision that could limit the authority of government agencies to address major policy questions without congressional approval.
Elaborating on earlier decisions, the high court said federal agencies need explicit authorization from Congress to decide issues of major economic and political significance, drawing on a principle known as the “major questions doctrine.”
In his decision for the 6-3 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said Congress never gave the EPA the authority to change the methods a power plant uses—regulations known as “generation shifting” requirements.
Chief Justice Roberts said that forcing a nationwide transition away from coal may be a “sensible” idea, but the EPA cannot do so without a clear authority from Congress.
“A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body,” the chief justice wrote, adding that the “EPA claimed to discover an unheralded power representing a transformative expansion of its regulatory authority in the vague language of a long-extant, but rarely used, statute.”
The chief justice’s opinion was joined by the court’s conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion that was joined by Justice Alito.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent on behalf of herself, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Stephen Breyer, whose retirement becomes effective on Thursday.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the importance of the ruling cannot be overstated.
“Today, the Supreme Court has taken a major step to restore representative government and require legislators, not bureaucrats, to make the major policy decisions affecting the lives of Americans,” the group’s executive vice president, Derrick Morgan, said
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Congress can’t be bothered to do its f@#$ing job. Too much money to be made, too much power to be grabbed by not doing its f@#$ing job.
The EPA never had that power. Obama pretended it did and nobody revealed the emperor has no clothes until now.
So, the decision is related to greenhouse gas emissions from pwer plants. By extension it is said to restrict agencies from making laws that are the responsibility of the congress.
OK, so what about the EPA rules regarding emissions of virtually every industry except Burger Kig. Are the EPA regulations regarding solvent emissions that effectively killed the furniture invlid
In his decision for the 6-3 majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said Congress never gave the EPA the authority to change the methods a power plant uses—regulations known as “generation shifting” requirements.
Chief Justice Roberts said that forcing a nationwide transition away from coal may be a “sensible” idea, but the EPA cannot do so without a clear authority from Congress.
“A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body,” the chief justice wrote, adding that the “EPA claimed to discover an unheralded power representing a transformative expansion of its regulatory authority in the vague language of a long-extant, but rarely used, statute.”
The chief justice’s opinion was joined by the court’s conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion that was joined by Justice Alito.
Hopefully, this will become the law of the land and the killer EPA’s swan song!
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