Bad Court Decisions Signal Need for Better Environmental Protections

Over the past two years, the Supreme Court, led by its right wing majority, has issued a number of decisions that weaken our democracy, invalidate the hard fought for rights of our people, and jeopardize the health and safety of us all. Despite the Court’s expansion of its own authority, Sierra Club staff, volunteers, members, and supporters continue to fight and win to protect the planet.

The Court's recent decisions pausing implementation of the Good Neighbor Plan and weakening federal administrative authority by overturning the Chevron deference doctrine point to agency decision-making that is less science-driven, and less reliable but we can still achieve these goals over the long term.

• Millions of Americans are regularly exposed to unsafe levels of air and water pollution. Lower income communities and people of color continue to bear a disproportionate share of this burden, and millions of Americans are at increased risk because of their age, preexisting health conditions, lifestyle, and job field.
• Administrative agencies like the EPA, led by professionals from the scientific and public health sectors, play a critical role in creating and implementing critical air, water, and climate protections Americans demand for themselves and their communities. 
• The accountability these protections force on big polluters is why those same polluters and their allies have sought to not just undermine the rules but to cut the legs out from the experts and agencies that create and govern them. 
• The Supreme Court's decisions, in combination, make it clear that the Court intends to insert itself as, in Justice Kagan’s words, the country's “administrative czar” – the primary decision-maker on the wide array of scientific, technical, and policy decisions necessary to effectively implement the laws (among others) protecting clean air, clean water, and affordable and reliable energy. 
• That insertion is likely to prove corrosive to climate policy and much more; judges lack the accountability, expertise, and experience of agencies like EPA or the Department of Energy. But the primary drivers of decarbonization--economics and legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act--remain relatively insulated from judicial interference. 
• Americans should trust their governmental institutions to carry out the nation’s best interests and provide for the general welfare. The Supreme Court’s right wing majority continues to carry out an agenda in opposition to that trust and as such, it should come as no surprise Americans are losing faith in the Supreme Court.
• While polluters and their elected stooges might celebrate the Supreme Court’s shortsighted end run around reality and new roadblocks on protecting public health, the Biden Administration and the experts and professionals at administrative agencies like the EPA have a solid suite of tools based on factual findings and clear legal authority to carry out their mission to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink.