The Supreme Court ruled Thursday to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s powers to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, dealing a blow to President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.
In a 6–3 ruling along ideological lines, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court sided with conservative states and fossil-fuel companies, adopting a narrow reading of the Clean Air Act. The court ruled that Congress, not the EPA, has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases emitted by existing power plants.
“Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,'” Roberts wrote in the opinion, adding “it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme.”
In 2015, under the Obama administration, the EPA dictated that coal power plants had to either subsidize alternative forms of energy or curtail their production. The ruling was never carried out, as the Supreme Court struck it down in 2016.
The Trump administration then attempted to redefine the law by limiting the EPA’s authority to regulate emissions to certain sites, but was struck down on the last day of Donald Trump’s administration by a divided panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Roberts said that the Court’s decision “is a major questions case,” meaning Congress has to authorize regulatory agencies making certain decision. It will impact the federal government’s future attempts at regulating climate policy, and is the first time the “major questions doctrine” was used in the majority’s opinion to justify a ruling.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissent, calling the majority’s decision “frightening.”
“The court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb powerplants’ carbon dioxide emissions. The court appoints itself – instead of Congress or the expert agency – the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening,” she wrote, joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
“The majority claims it is just following precedent, but that is not so. The Court has never even used the term ‘major questions doctrine’ before,” Kagan added.