The Supreme Court refuses to interfere in the EPA’s litigation, for now

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block a set of Biden administration regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants while the rule was challenged in lower courts.

The court order is a boost to the Biden administration’s efforts to address climate change. A Republican-led coalition of states and businesses had challenged the rule, citing the financial cost of compliance. Wednesday’s order comes weeks after the court refused to block new anti-pollution rules that impose stricter standards on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants and regulate methane emissions from crude oil facilities and natural gas.

Unlike the court’s refusal to intervene in those anti-pollution rules, Wednesday’s decision was not unanimous. Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the order, saying he would have put the regulations on hold while the case played out. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, wrote separately, saying that while “it is unlikely that the plaintiffs will suffer irreparable harm before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decide the merits,” they believe the challengers showed a high likelihood of success in some of their challenges to the rule. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch indicated they might be sympathetic to the case if it were to come after the D.C. Circuit’s decision.

These recent decisions not to intervene break with the Court’s previous handling of EPA litigation. Last summer, the court temporarily blocked the EPA’s “Good Neighbor Plan” in a 5-4 vote, ruling that the emissions reduction standards set by the plan would likely cause “irreparable harm” to nearly half of the states unless the court stayed the rule pending further review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

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