SCOTUS Stalls Clean Power Plan

The Supreme Court hits the brakes on the heart of President Obama’s push to fight global warming. We’ll dig in.

The historic Paris agreement on fighting climate change nine weeks ago was based on the premise that everybody was in on the fight. One-hundred and ninety-five countries. The US, right up front with a very public commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Now the U.S. Supreme Court has thrown the brakes on the heart of the American promise to the world - cleaning up US power plants. They haven’t killed the plan yet, but they’re signaling they could. This hour On Point, climate change, the constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Coral Davenport, energy and environmental policy reporter for the New York Times. (@CoralMDavenport)

David Savage, Supreme Court reporter for the Los Angeles Times. (@DavidGSavage)

Jody Freeman, founding director of the Harvard Law School Environmental Law and Policy program. (@JodyFreemanHLS)

Jeff Holmstead, lawyer for coal-powered utilities and a representative of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

New York Times: Supreme Court’s Blow to Emissions Efforts May Imperil Paris Climate Accord — "The court’s verdict does not block the climate change rule permanently but halts its enactment until legal challenges against it have been decided, a process that could take a year or more. Legal experts said the justices’ unprecedented decision to stop work on the rule before any court had decided against it appears to signal that the regulation could ultimately be overturned."
Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court deals blow to Obama by putting his climate change rules on hold -- "The Supreme Court dealt a surprising setback to President Obama on Tuesday by putting his climate change policy on hold while a coalition of coal producers and Republican-led states challenges its legality. The justices, by a 5-4 vote, issued an unusual emergency order that blocks the Environmental Protection Agency from moving forward with its effort to reduce carbon pollution from power plants by 32% by 2030."

POLITICO: Inside the fight against Obama's climate plan — "In my lifetime, we've never seen anything like this, where an EPA rules has gotten such a significant kind of public relations campaign that involves the president, that involves really everybody in his administration. It's really quite remarkable, and whether you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, you have to kind of admire them for the campaign that they've put together."