Supreme Court Issues Split Rulings on Clean Air Act Venue Disputes
On June 18, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in two significant Clean Air Act cases — EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining and Oklahoma v. EPA — clarifying the appropriate venue for legal challenges to certain final EPA actions. In Calumet, the Court held that EPA’s universal denials of small-refinery-exemption (SRE) petitions under the Renewable Fuel Standard program were “based on a determination of nationwide scope or effect,” and thus challenges may only be brought in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. By contrast, the Court in Oklahoma held that challenges to EPA’s disapproval of State Implementation Plans (SIPs) belong in the applicable regional circuit courts because the agency’s determinations were based on facts and rationales unique to each state. Although some gray areas remain, the twin decisions put several long-standing venue issues to rest and should encourage quicker resolution of Clean Air Act regulatory challenges.
Environmental Law Implications of Loper Bright and the End of Chevron Deference
On Friday, June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Chevron v. NRDC in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.[1] Although the Court’s decision to overturn Chevron was anticipated, Loper Bright nonetheless represents a paradigm shift because the Chevron doctrine had been a cornerstone of administrative law for 40 years.
U.S. Supreme Court Stays EPA Ozone Interstate Transport Rule
On Thursday, in Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that would have required the implementation of additional, significant emissions controls in power plants, pipelines, cement factories, glass factories, iron and steel mills, paper mills, and other industrial facilities across 23 states. The stay provides relief to those industries as they challenge various aspects of the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — challenges on which the Supreme Court found the states and industries were likely to succeed.
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal District Courts’ Federal-Question Jurisdiction Over Federal Agencies’ Actions
On April 13, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court in Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission et al. unanimously held that federal district courts can hear constitutional challenges to an agency’s administrative enforcement powers without waiting for the outcome of administrative appeals to that action.
Upcoming Decision From U.S. Supreme Court Could Further Restrain Authority of Administrative Law Judges
Two cases recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court address the question of whether federal agencies have authority to mandate proceedings before administrative law judges (ALJs). The plaintiffs in these cases have challenged the constitutionality of ALJ proceedings and, depending on how broadly the resulting opinion is written, the Court’s decision could limit the authority of ALJs across the federal government including within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Energy Companies Petition U.S. Supreme Court to Review Remand of Climate Change Litigation to State Court
On October 14, 2022, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other major energy companies petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to send a climate change lawsuit back to state court (the Petition). In the underlying lawsuit, the City of Baltimore is seeking climate-change-related infrastructure damages for the defendants’ alleged deception of consumers and the public about climate change. The defendants previously removed the case to federal court, but the District Court for the District of Maryland remanded the case to state court—a decision the Fourth Circuit later upheld. (more…)
