Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to California's strict vehicle emissions rules

Source: CNN Politics

Published 10:50 AM EST, Mon December 16, 2024


CNN — The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal from conservative states challenging California’s ability to establish strict vehicle emission rules that effectively set the standard for the rest of the nation. The move, which effectively leaves in place a lower court ruling that upheld those regulations, comes days after the court agreed to hear a narrow slice of the fight: Whether fuel companies have standing to sue over the regulations.

Given California’s size, automakers have for decades hewed to that state’s tighter emissions controls, which are permitted under a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. The states and fuel groups argued in their Supreme Court appeal that the arrangement is unlawful.

The Supreme Court on Monday shut down the appeal from the states. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have taken up the EPA case but did not explain why.

What remains of the legal dispute could be upended anyway when President-elect Donald Trump takes office next month. In 2019, the first Trump administration rolled back California’s decades-old waiver that had allowed it to set its own air pollution standards. The Biden administration reinstated the waiver in 2022.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/16/politics/supreme-court-california-emissions/index.html