Sen. Larson reacts to SCOTUS ruling on EPA’s power to fight climate change

Milwaukee, WI – Another day, another out-of-touch ruling by runaway partisans in robes on the country’s highest court.

In an aggressively partisan and altogether unnecessary ruling, the extreme MAGA majority of the U.S. Supreme Court today made the fight against climate change – the greatest threat currently facing mankind – even more difficult. Perhaps equally concerning is that the majority opinion in West Virginia v. EPA sets a precedent that is likely to cripple the ability of all federal agencies to respond to our most pressing problems going forward. Instead of allowing federal agencies under the control of the only elected official accountable to the entire nation – the President of the United States – to deal with exigent crises under the authority broadly delegated to them by Congress, we are forced to rely on an increasingly dysfunctional legislative branch to take action every time a new problem or potential solution emerges.

Adding to the frustration of this decision is the fact that the Supreme Court did not need to take this case at all. There was no active Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule in dispute. The Obama-era rule was never enacted due to previous court challenges, and despite that, the energy industry met its goals due solely to market forces (cleaner energy became cheaper than dirtier alternatives like coal). What’s more, the Biden Administration has said it would develop a rule altogether different than the one argued in this particular case. Still, the far-right activist judges on this Court stepped in to curtail the authority Congress had previously delegated to the EPA to select the “best system of emission reduction” for power plants.

As it stands, the future of our air, our climate, and the very ability of our federal government to function have been thrown into serious doubt with the Court’s devastating ruling today. If drastic action is not taken to rein in the power of the Supreme Court, or at the very least moderate its most extreme tendencies, there’s no telling how far they will go and how many people will be harmed in the service of right-wing ideologies far out of step with the majority of Americans. This is a detriment to future generations. Congress must act now to fight climate change, and if it takes eliminating the filibuster to get us there, all the better.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.