In a span of 11 months, the U.S. Supreme Court has delivered a one-two punch against the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to combat air and water pollution in twin rulings that cloud future EPA regulatory moves, according to legal experts.
from power plants. Environmental groups decried the decisions as putting the interests of polluting industries and landowners ahead of public health and the environment. Many Republicans and conservatives lauded the rulings as necessary checks on the power of federal agencies and unelected officials.
"In these cases, it's very noticeable that the court doesn't actually cite particular things that the agencies got wrong or failed to establish," Buzbee added. "This is the court reaching in and distorting what Congress enacted." "The way forward is now so unclear because it's much harder to predict what a future court will do in a challenge to any new regulation," Jaffe added.
Environmental groups said decision left fewer restraints on industry, property developers and agricultural interests to seek to fill wetlands or pollute. That ruling also signaled the court's skepticism of big decisions made by federal agencies by bolstering what is called the "major questions" legal doctrine, which requires congressional authorization on issues of broad societal impact.
"The only vehicle for the implementation of a significant climate policy is Congress, and the seems to be putting the ball in their court," Rossetti said.
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