Washington, DC – On news this morning that the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Michigan v. EPA, Constitutional Accountability Center released the following reaction:

CAC Counsel Tom Donnelly said, “For the first time ever, the Court requires the EPA to consider compliance costs for industry without any mention by Congress of such a requirement. As Justice Kagan wrote in her dissent, ‘That is a peculiarly blinkered way for a court to assess the lawfulness of an agency’s rulemaking.’”

CAC President Doug Kendall continued, “Industry has managed to turn a provision designed to study the health effects of power plant regulation into delay that has lasted 25 years and counting with, according to the EPA, thousands of lives lost each year as a result. The effect of today’s ruling could be to kick the can years further down the road.”

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Resources:

CAC’s case page, including link to our “friend of the court” brief, in Michigan v. EPA: http://theusconstitution.org/cases/michigan-v-epa-us-sup-ct 

“4 reasons why the Supreme Court’s mercury case is worth watching,” Tom Donnelly, Grist, Monday, March 23, 2015: http://grist.org/climate-energy/4-reasons-why-the-supreme-courts-mercury-case-is-worth-watching/ 

Roberts at 10: Roberts’s Environmental Law Record: It’s Not Good, But Don’t Count Him Out, Brianne Gorod: http://theusconstitution.org/sites/default/files/briefs/Roberts-at-10-Environment.pdf 

UPDATE: “Another Solid Term for Big Business at the Roberts Court,” Tom Donnelly, June 30, 2015: http://theusconstitution.org/text-history/3340/another-solid-term-big-business-roberts-court

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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