The Other Big Court Decision This Week

by Stuart Shapiro

Lost in the hype of the gigantic Supreme Court decisions this week was a ruling by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

This morning, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first-of-its-kind greenhouse gas regulations, dismissing out of hand a variety of challenges from industry and states. The findings uphold the agency’s rules defining limits to the emission of greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act. Specifically, the court ruled: Yes, the agency acted properly in determining that CO2 is a danger to public health; yes, it was right to use that determination to regulate vehicles; and yes, it was within its authority to determine the timing (Timing Rule) and scope (Tailoring Rule) of the regulations.

Industry will appeal to the Supreme Court, but since the Supremes ruled in 2007 that EPA had discretion to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts v. EPA, their chances of success are slim.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.