The Supreme Court and Climate Change

Background

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a deeply felt loss for the nation and the foundation of the rule of law. Ginsburg was keen to the importance of environmental protections under the law and had a hand in many landmark cases that created the current legal framework for action to address carbon pollution and climate change.  Her replacement will hear arguments on a number of key climate-related cases which is why climate change should be central to the discussion of the next nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Talking Points: Key Climate Cases Coming Before the Courts

• Several key cases that will have long lasting impacts on environmental protections and climate change are in the courts now and could eventually be decided in the US Supreme Court.

• These cases address public health protections against carbon pollution from sources like power plants, vehicles, oil and gas infrastructure and other sources. 

• These protections would limit the amount of carbon pollution from these sources, the very pollution that exacerbates climate change and diminishes air quality - and the courts could set them aside, creating a direct threat to public health.

• The makeup of the courts has a related impact on public health. These rules are based on existing case law and founded in landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act. Activist judges could undermine those laws and their court decisions could allow more pollution in our air, water and land. 

• That’s why it is important that nominees to the federal bench including the Supreme Court pass the basic smell test that they agree that our environmental rules and policies need to be based on science and the law and that there is no place on the bench for corporate activism that emprils our health. 

• The Supreme Court, and all federal courts, should be Clean Air Courts.

Key Rules

Clean Car Standards
The Environmental Protection Agency is working to weaken Obama-era fuel economy and tailpipe pollution standards for cars and light trucks.

Over 26 million people in the U.S. – including more than 6 million children – suffer from asthma. These safeguards help all those across the U.S. breathe clean air, particularly during a public health pandemic that is especially lethal for those with respiratory trouble. According to the EPA, the Clean Car Standards will help avoid up to 2,000 premature deaths per year and 50,000 cases of respiratory ailments in children

Originally, before these standards were gutted, they were estimated to help avoid up to 2,000 premature deaths per year and 50,000 cases of respiratory ailments in children.

Cases:

• The Clean Car Standards are currently being challenged in federal court. 

Methane Pollution Standards
The EPA has proposed eliminating methane protections from the New Source Performance Standards, which will allow oil and gas wells to pollute our atmosphere with this deadly climate pollutant. 

Methane is released alongside toxic air pollution during oil and gas production that can worsen respiratory illnesses. These pollutants like benzene can worsen asthma, affect lung development in children, and increase the risk of cancer, immune system damage, and neurological, reproductive, and developmental problems.

In total, these standards have successfully prevented more than 300 million metric tons of carbon pollution from entering our air.

Cases:

• A coalition of 20 states and four municipalities sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday over its rollback of methane emissions standards for oil and gas production

Clean Power Plan
The EPA buried the Clean Power Plan, rolling back the first and only federal limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants -- the largest stationary source of carbon pollution. The replacement, which is nothing more than a ‘Dirty Power Scam,’ endangers the health of millions by exposing our communities to more pollution.

The EPA’s own analysis found that the Clean Power Plan could prevent as many as 4,500 premature deaths each year by 2030 – more than even the EPA estimated — and previous estimates found it could provide up to $61 billion in health and climate benefits per year in 2030.

Cases:

• A coalition of 23 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging the EPA’s replacement of the Clean Power Plan, the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule.

Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS)
These life-saving standards protected us from mercury and other toxic air pollution coming from coal-fired power plants. The EPA’s ‘Poison Plan’ would increase this deadly pollutant in our air, which causes brain damage in babies and developing fetuses and increases heart attacks in adults.

By the EPA’s own calculations, these standards had prevented up to 11,000 premature deaths each year. Undermining these standards is a clear threat to our health.

Cases:

• The gutting of MATS is currently being challenged in district court. 

Clean Air Act: MA v. EPA
The addition of a new justice to the court could lock in opposition to the rule allowing the government to regulate carbon dioxide and other climate pollutants as "air pollutants" under the Clean Air Act, with a challenge to the 2007 court case Massachusetts v. EPA. 

Additional environmental cases that could come before the Supreme Court this year can be found here.