In a 5-4 ruling, the majority opinion, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, stated that the challengers to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule are “likely to prevail” in their effort to block the rule.
He and most of his fellow conservative justices therefore paused the rule while the legal proceedings against it play out.
Dissenting, conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, joined by the court’s three liberals, wrote that the majority was halting the rule “based on an underdeveloped theory that is unlikely to succeed on the merits.”
The rule seeks to reduce pollution in upwind states to protect their downwind neighbors from negative impacts.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, states have the authority to craft their own interstate pollution plans, but the EPA also has the authority to override those plans it deems insufficient.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan told The Hill he was “disappointed” by the ruling and that the agency is confident in its defense of the rule in the lower court.
He added that the ruling comes at “the worst possible time” as summer weather leads to increased ozone pollution and asthma attacks.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
