In West Virginia v. EPA, the conservative justices acted like they were handing power to the people, but in reality they were giving it to themselves.
he supreme court has become the most powerful branch of the federal government, stripping women of their constitutional rights, hamstringing states’ ability to regulate guns, and sidelining the constitutional mandate to keep religion out of government, virtually overnight. The new majority bloc flexed its power at a level so in defiance of public opinion and long-standing legal principles this term that its members must believe themselves immune to any and all accountability. The scariest thing is, they may be right.
The Court’s 6–3 ruling sharply confining the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions from power plants is a stunning example. President Joe Biden called West Virginia v. EPA “another devastating decision that aims to take our country backwards.” Conservatives praised the Court for narrowing the regulatory power of administrative agencies. Patrick Morrisey, the Republican attorney general for West Virginia, tweeted that his state “took on the swamp and won. Unelected bureaucrats must yield to Congress—Congress decides the major questions of the day!!”
The “Congress triumphed” argument gets the big dynamics completely wrong. From the standpoint of the separation of powers, it’s not Congress that won the power grab here, but the Supreme Court’s far-right majority.
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Article URL:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/07/west-virginia-v-epa-scotus-decision/670556/