Robinson Meyer at The Atlantic writes—Will a Reconfigured Supreme Court Help Obama's Clean-Power Plan Survive? An excerpt:
The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday sets up a battle between the White House and the Senate over who will nominate a new associate justice—a battle over governing norms and constitutional imperatives, played out in the most powerful republic in the world.
The outcome of that fight could also exert unusual influence over the health of the planet and the survival of its natural systems. For although Scalia’s death has already changed the outlook for a number of cases now in front of the Supreme Court, it will also alter the shape of one that will soon arrive: the legal battle over the Clean Power Plan.
The Clean Power Plan is the new set of Environmental Protection Agency regulations that anchors the Obama administration’s climate-change policy. It seeks to guide local utilities away from coal-fired electricity generation, and toward renewable energy and natural gas, a change that the Department of Energy says will forestall hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse-gas emissions. The plan’s survival—and its entry into law—could decide the fate of the Paris Agreement, the first international treaty to mitigate climate change. For a case that will ultimately turn on administrative law, it’s hard to imagine the stakes being much higher.
It had already been a busy week for the Clean Power Plan. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the rules should neither be implemented nor enforced until the high court itself heard their opponents’ case. This was itself unprecedented: Never before had the Supreme Court stayed a set of regulations before a federal court even heard the initial case about them.
This was an ominous sign for the regulations. “One has to conclude that five justices have decided that the rule must go,” said Seth Jaffe, the former president of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.
But Scalia’s death could change all that. Now there are only four justices who have telegraphed their opposition to the rules. Could the Clean Power Plan now survive, after all? ...
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2007—Aide: Rice Lied ... oops ... “Misled” Congress About Iran:
A breakthrough in Iran-U.S. relations—a proposal from Iran in 2003 in which "an end to Iran's support for anti-Israel militants and acceptance of Israel's right to exist" was offered—was shunted aside by then-National Security advisor Rice, according to a former member of the NSC.
And as Secretary of State, she lied last week—or rather "misled"—Congress about it, the ex-aide said today
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