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.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
TIGHTENING: Zhu Hengpeng, who worked for an influential think tank, has reportedly not been seen in public since making disparaging remarks on WeChat A leading Chinese economist at a government think tank has reportedly disappeared after being disciplined for criticizing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in a private chat group. Zhu Hengpeng (朱恆鵬), 55, is believed to have made disparaging remarks about China’s economy, and potentially about the Chinese leader specifically, in a private WeChat group. Zhu was subsequently detained in April and put under investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported. Zhu worked for the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) for more than 20 years, most recently as the Institute of Economics deputy director and director of the Public Policy Research Center. He
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
RSS