In a blow to the fight against climate change, the US Supreme Court on Thursday limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
The decision came on the same day that Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first black female Supreme Court justice.
By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.
Photo: Reuters
Environmental advocates and dissenting liberal justices said the decision was a major step in the wrong direction — “a gut punch,” one meteorologist said — at a time of increasing environmental damage attributable to climate change amid dire warnings about the future.
The court’s ruling could complicate US President Joe Biden’s plans to cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, and have an emissions-free power sector by 2035. Power plants account for about 30 percent of carbon dioxide output.
Although the decision was specific to the EPA, it was in line with the conservative majority’s skepticism of the power of regulatory agencies, and it sent a message on possible effects beyond climate change and air pollution.
“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,’” but the Clean Air Act does not give the EPA authority to do so, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion for the court.
In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the decision strips the EPA of the power the US Congress gave it to respond to “the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.”
“The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening,” she said.
Separately on Thursday, 51-year-old Jackson was sworn in as the court’s 116th justice, taking the place Stephen Breyer, whose retirement was effective at noon.
Moments later Jackson recited the two oaths required of Supreme Court justices, one administered by Breyer and the other by Roberts.
“With a full heart, I accept the solemn responsibility of supporting and defending the constitution of the United States and administering justice without fear or favor, so help me God,” Jackson said in a statement issued by the court.
Jackson, a federal judge since 2013, is joining three other women — Sonia Sotomayor, Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett. It is the first time four women will serve together on the nine-member court.
Glynda Carr, president of Higher Heights for America, an organization that advocates for the growth of Black women’s political power, said that the timing of Jackson’s swearing-in was bittersweet.
“Although we celebrate her today, one black woman or a cohort of black women can’t save this democracy alone. We are a piece of it, and we are doing our work, our part. She’s going to forever reshape and shape that court. But she’s just a piece of the work that needs to happen moving forward,” Carr said.
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