Sen. Elizabeth Warren
The Supreme Court’s MAGA majority has produced some of the most dangerous rulings in the history of the institution this session, not only declaring that presidents could be king but also that federal courts—not administrative agencies—should get the final say on all federal policy.
Democrats are fighting to stop that. Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren and 10 fellow senators introduced legislation this week to overturn the court ruling that usurped the power of federal agencies. And not a moment too soon, because conservative activists were preparing for this ruling even before it came down, ready to flood the courts with challenges to the environmental regulations that affect just about every aspect of our lives.
In fact, a group of red-state attorneys general have already asked for an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court to block new Environmental Protection Agency rules intended to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The rules would require that coal and natural gas power plants either cut or capture their pollution by 90% before 2032.
This is exactly why Warren and her colleagues are fighting.
“Right-wing extremist judges and politicians in the pockets of Big Oil shouldn’t have free rein to block basic pollution regulations,” Warren told Daily Kos Thursday, in response to the conservative-backed challenge to EPA rules. “Congress needs to make clear that scientists, not corporate interests, should write environmental rules.”
That’s what the proposed legislation, sponsored in the House by Pramila Jayapal, would do. It would restore and codify the decades-long Supreme Court precedent that the Trump-packed court overturned this year, putting the experts in our federal agencies back in charge of protecting everything from our air and water to our food and medicines.
"Giant corporations are using far-right, unelected judges to hijack our government and undermine the will of Congress,” Warren said in a statement introducing the bill. This legislation would “bring transparency and efficiency to the federal rule-making process” and “make sure corporate interest groups can’t substitute their preferences for the judgment of Congress and the expert agencies.”
The scope of the MAGA court’s ruling is hard to grasp, as is the chaos that will ensue as federal courts are flooded with challenges to government regulations and previous enforcement actions—because the court also ruled that, in essence, there is no longer a statute of limitations for these challenges.
Conservative activists will target everything from the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the food we eat down to consumer protections, net neutrality, workplace safety, and so much more. It could even end up harming LGBTQ+ students.
Federal judges don’t have the necessary expertise in all these areas, and the power will swing to the big corporations and activists who will swamp the courts with challenges to existing and proposed rules.
But this legislation won’t pass in a GOP-controlled House, or in a Senate where Republicans can effectively veto everything via the filibuster, which consists of prolonged debate that delays and usually prevents voting on a bill. The only way to rein in an out-of-control Supreme Court is at the ballot box—where we can elect a Democratic House, Senate, and president who will fix it.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.
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