Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.

Subscriber-only Newsletter

Climate Forward

A Seismic Supreme Court Decision

Here’s how the end of the Chevron doctrine could affect climate regulation.

Several white oil refinery tanks are seen from above with a smokestack visible in the foreground.
On Friday, the Supreme Court upended 40 years of legal precedent, sharply limiting the regulatory authority of federal agencies.Credit...Robert King/Reuters

On Friday, the Supreme Court sharply limited the regulatory authority of federal agencies, upending 40 years of legal precedent in a ruling with broad implications for the environment.

The court threw out the so-called Chevron deference, one of the most cited precedents in American law, which has guided courts to defer to the expertise of federal agencies when interpreting unclear laws. Instead, the justices ruled, courts should have more power to interpret these statutes.

As our Times colleagues wrote, environmentalists fear that the decision could lead to hundreds of rules being weakened or eliminated, particularly Environmental Protection Agency limits on air and water pollution, regulations on toxic chemicals, and policies to tackle climate change

The ruling represents a significant win in a decades-long push by conservative organizations to roll back the federal government’s regulatory powers. Mandy Gunasekara, who served as chief of staff at the E.P.A. under President Trump and is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, celebrated the court’s decision. “It creates a massive opportunity for these regulations to be challenged,” she told The Times. “And it could galvanize additional momentum toward reining in the administrative state writ large if the administration changes in November.”

To find out what could happen next, we reached out to climate experts, legal experts and activists. We asked each expert about the effects of the ruling and how Americans’ lives could be affected.

We’ve excerpted the responses below:

Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council: “The Court’s actions have put at grave risk the foundational safeguards we depend on, and even take for granted, to protect the mainstays of a modern society. Clean air and water, healthy wildlife and lands; safe food, medicine, workplaces, airplanes, bridges and cars; an economy unhindered by predatory lending, stock fraud and credit card scams.”


Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.


Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT