The Supreme Court delivered a major blow against the bureaucratic, unbridled regulatory state in their last release of decisions for Thursday’s session. The Conservative Justices gathered once more and decided that the notorious Environmental Protection Agency couldn’t exercise unrestricted executive power and Congress had to approve legislation to allow them to take action. On streaming website ABC News Live this caused anger, with Terry Moran, senior national correspondent complaining that Congress would now have to fulfill its duty.
“A significant decision on how the EPA is allowed to enforce restrictions to protect the environment,” anchor Whit Johnson announced after breaking in with the rulings. “Of course, profound implications.”
Moran cautioned that in his initial comments about the ruling Moran said: “President Biden’s authority [was] at stake”He was astonished at their argument against the EPA.
These are the kinds of questions that have such an enormous impact on American economic life and affect so many people that Congress must address them, not an agency from the executive. It will not only have major impacts on climate change but will have ripple effects throughout the federal government. It is an important opinion that reaffirms that Congress must create the laws and agencies implement them on the big issues of national policy.
Moran came back for round two a few minutes later with Johnson voicing concerns about Congress being forced to do its job:
JOHNSON – If the EPA is unable to regulate climate emissions, and This must now go back to Congress. Many people may just see this as another opportunity to gridlock.
MORAN: That’s it exactly, Whit. We have a dysfunctional CongressConcerning climate change as well as immigration. The Congress has tried to solve the country’s immigration problems for most of this century.
“To try to act on climate change and it’s such a divided Congress. And such a dysfunctional Congress that it cannot make the kind of law that would direct the agency to operate in such a way,”Moran also protested.
Essentially, they argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should ignore the Constitution and the separation of powers because the Democrats can’t put together a winning argument and pass their agenda.
After shifting to the immigration ruling which went in Biden’s favor, Johnson brought the conversation back to the EPA ruling. Devin Dwyer was a Washington senior reporter who shared his disappointment with Johnson. “handcuffed the agency in terms of how aggressively it can go after those greenhouse gases.”
Dwyer was also adamant about how “devastating” this was “to climate advocates. Especially the Biden administration, who had made the climate agenda a centerpiece of this White House.”
Kate Shaw, legal analyst, raised an odd dissenting opinion from Justice Kegan which suggested that the court is taking power from Congress. They were telling Congress what to do, which was to revoke the power that they had given to the executive. “But I think the logic applies to all manner of questions and problems government might try to address. And the Court is here saying, we’re going to second guess your ability to do that,” she suggested.
Nearing the end of their break-in, Moran lashed out at the conservative justices and blamed them for putting the court through the “throes of change.” He decried the “emboldened conservative supermajority” and described them as brutes “now really striking out and looking for areas that it can make a huge difference.”
“And on the climate change case, it really does, as Kate said, impact not just the authority of the EPA but the ripple effects on other executive branch agencies to try to be creative and address problems that Congress is failing to address has been limited by this opinion,”He concluded.
You can find the transcript below. To read it, please click on “expand”.
ABC News Live
June 30, 2022
Eastern Time: 10:58.55WHIT JOHNSON : Hello, my name is Whit Johnson. This will be a historic day for the U.S. Supreme Court at many levels. In what was a divisive term, the justices will release their last two decisions. It also marked the end to Justice Stephen Breyer’s 27 year tenure on the bench.
Now, following the court’s sweeping ruling on abortion, overturning Roe v. WadeNew York’s concealed weapon carry law was struck down. Now, the court will issue consequential decisions regarding immigration and climate change that have a significant impact on the whole country.
(…)
Here’s the second question, which is climate change. The EPA will have to make a significant decision about how it can enforce regulations to protect the environment. The question is: Can the EPA make rules that can transform the country’s electricity grids and drive power companies from using fossil fuels? Technically the answer to that question is “no”. Technically, the answer is no.
There are profound consequences. This is true for other agencies too, you’ll see. We’ll start with Terry Moran (ABC senior national correspondent), who is responsible for covering the Supreme Court. Terry has a big picture on these two issues. How does it affect everyone?
TRY MORAN: There are two big cases. These are very important cases. Each case has President Biden’s authority on the line. He lost one and won one.
(…)
Eastern, 11:01:19
On the loss side, that’s climate change. And in that case, the court, in both opinions, by the way, by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court sharply limited the ability, the authority of the government, the EPA, to limit climate—greenhouse gas emissions. Because they believed that this question was being addressed by the Obama administration which established a cap-and-trade policy to reduce climate change emissions.
These are the kinds of questions that have such an enormous impact on American economic life and affect so many people that Congress must address them, not an agency from the executive. This will have a significant impact on climate change, and ripple effects across the entire federal government. This landmark opinion reaffirms the idea that the federal legislature must pass legislation on large, important questions of national policy.
JOHNSON: All right Terry, we’ll come back to you in a bit.
(…)
Eastern at 11:08 a.m.
JOHNSON – The Biden ministry is going to need to reevaluate how it approaches its climate agenda.
DEVIN DWYER (Yes, that’s right, the Supreme Court has always ruled that the EPA is capable of regulating greenhouse gases which cause climate change. They have now restricted the agency’s ability to pursue those greenhouse gasses with any vigor.
Climate advocates are in grave danger, it is clear. This is especially true for the Biden administration who made climate policy a central part of their White House agenda. They are determined to reduce emissions in the country. The leading cause of climate change worldwide.
Whit, this victory is huge for the coal sector and communities supporting it. Appalachia was one of those communities most severely affected by climate change. I spent much of my time there. These regulations are not accepted by them. This industry and its related sectors employs 1.7 million people.
They are also open to regulation. You know what they need? Some regulation to limit the emission at power plants. This will bring in more jobs. Real concern is that generation shifting and requiring companies to switch towards solar or wind were too extreme. We saw that the court agreed with us today. Whit.
(…)
Eastern, 11:11:18
KATE SHAW It is not yet possible to take it from the agencies. You can also get it from Congress. Climate regulation is the subject. The logic is applicable to many questions and issues that the government might attempt to resolve. We’re here to say, Court, that we will second guess your abilities to accomplish this.
(…)
Eastern, 11:13.50
JOHNSON : Many people could see the EPA’s inability to control climate emissions as more potential for gridlock.
MORAN: That’s it exactly, Whit. We have a dysfunctional Congress in both immigration and climate change. The Congress has struggled for the past century to resolve the nation’s immigration problem. It’s so divided that it has failed to take action on climate change. This dysfunctional Congress is unable to pass legislation that would allow the agency such autonomy.
So President Obama, Trump and President Biden took it upon themselves to use their executive power to attempt to make a change. On both of these matters, the court has urged Congress to slow down.
It is clear that we see a court at the forefront of changes. A strong conservative supermajority is now looking to make big changes in areas it believes can be helped. The opinion is limited in its ability to impact the authority of EPA and the ripple effect on other executive branches agencies trying to solve problems Congress has failed to address.
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