Episode description

The Trump administration repealed the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which established guidelines for states to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and issued in its place the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, which eliminated or deferred the guidelines. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the ACE Rule as arbitrary and capricious. One of the challengers, North American Coal Corporation, challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to so broadly regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The case was decided on June 30, 2022. The Court held that this case remains justiciable notwithstanding the Government’s contention that no petitioner has Article 3 standing, given EPA’s stated intention not to enforce the Clean Power Plan and to instead engage in new rulemaking. The Court also held that Congress did not grant EPA in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the Agency took in the Clean Power Plan. Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Justices THOMAS, ALITO, GORSUCH, KAVANAUGH, and BARRETT joined. Justice GORSUCH filed a concurring opinion, in which Justice ALITO joined. Justice KAGAN filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices BREYER and SOTOMAYOR joined.

Credit: Oyez, LII Supreme Court Resources, Justia Supreme Court Center, available at: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2021/20-1530.