Judge to the EPA: Don’t Write Rules with Shaky Legal Foundations
Nicolas Loris /
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving forward with micromanaging regulations that would regulate greenhouse gases and slow economic growth. However, one judge is warning the EPA not to overstep its legal authority. Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia told a forum:
“[…] agencies choose their policy first and then later seek to defend its legality. This gets it entirely backwards. It’s backwards because whether or not agencies value neutral principles of administrative law, courts do, and they will strike down agency action that violates those principles — whatever the president’s party, however popular the administration, and no matter how advisable the initiative.”
He reminded the forum that the courts will uphold the law as in the case of the 2006 ruling which overturned the EPA’s decision to regulate caps on pollution seasonally or annually rather than daily as was required by the Clean Water Act. Tatel said, “I hope that the EPA lawyers are participating in the policy process as legal advisers, not policy advocates. Above all, I hope EPA is listening to its lawyers, even when they offer unwelcome advice.”