Huge Win For EPA and Environmentalists
“It bears mention that EPA is getting almost everything it wanted in this case.” –Justice Antonin Scalia In a much-anticipated decision, the United States Supreme Court on Monday gave what has been trumpeted as a huge victory for environmentalists when it largely validated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plans to regulate major sources of greenhouse-gas emissions such as power plants and factories. However, in a rather blistering decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court said the agency had gone too far in interpreting its power. The court’s bifurcated opinion (there were to majorities on different parts: 7–2 and 5–4) on one hand criticized the agency for trying to rewrite provisions of the Clean Air Act. Nonetheless, the Court granted the Obama administration and environmentalists a big victory by agreeing that there are other ways for the EPA to reach its goal of regulating the gases that contribute to global warming.
You can read the full opinion here.