In the News

As the Supreme Court prepares to decide the fate of one of its most cited precedents, it will do so without a full slate of Justices. There’s a simple solution sitting in the current batch of petitions at the Court.

In Utah v. Walsh, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk crisply and correctly rejected the plaintiffs’ farfetched attempt to rely on the major questions doctrine. Hopefully other lower courts will follow suit and apply the major questions doctrine only as set forth in the Supreme Court’s opinions, not as poorly summarized by litigants looking for an easy victory. Doing so should have the result the Supreme Court intended of applying the doctrine only in “extraordinary cases,” not in every run-of-the-mill challenge to federal agency action.

By setting standards that effectively make EVs the most cost-effective route for automakers, the EPA's proposed tailpipe emissions standards have the potential to transform the transportation sector. The projected benefits, both in terms of economic savings and environmental impact, underscore the importance of addressing market failures. A more comprehensive analysis of the energy efficiency gap would further clarify the rule’s merits.

The Wall Street Journal's recent editorial argues that the White House missteps in updating its approach to regulatory cost-benefit analysis. Many experts disagree. The Biden administration’s evidence-based approach to cost-benefit analysis recognizes that both benefits and costs merit evenhanded consideration. In this way, it’s a welcome update.

Setting limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants is an important part of EPA’s legal framework for reducing climate change. In its recently proposed rule, EPA has walked the line between its congressional mandate, the Court’s West Virginia decision, and the agency’s analysis of the technological and economic realities.

Good governance requires that the federal government regularly account for its natural resources according to a standard set of evidence-based rules. It also requires a systematic approach to deciding when and how to account for environmental services, rather than doing so only when convenient to advance specific political objectives. Two recent federal documents take this task seriously, with the aim of creating a predictable system for how the government will take natural resources into account when making decisions.

The US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is a milestone on the path towards the electric vehicle (EV) era — a monumental shift with the potential to remodel not just the US automotive industry, but the global landscape. Washington is working to establish alternatives to China’s control over critical mineral resources within the Asia-Pacific region, potentially recalibrating the global EV industry.

Natasha Brunstein, Legal Fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity, reflects on the impacts of West Virginia v. EPA, in which the Supreme Court expressly named and relied on the major questions doctrine for the first time, one year after the landmark decision.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law strengthened the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority to site interstate transmission projects that have been rejected or not acted upon by states. Used appropriately, this authority can help the United States build the transmission infrastructure necessary to achieve President Joe Biden’s goal of fully decarbonizing the electricity grid by 2035.

As part of the symposium on Modernizing Regulatory Review, Max Sarinsky, senior attorney at Policy Integrity, discusses the economic and legal implications of the draft update to Circular A-4.