This has become a predictable cycle: the Republican government has revoked heavy environmental regulations, a radical group is eager to court, and has a friendly district judge issued an injunction. [emphasis, links added]
result? It takes several months or even years of expensive delay policies to take effect.
This is not about winning the legal case, but about slowing down the crawling process.
Groups against coal, oil and gas know that there may be a loss of appeals where the national ban belongs, but that is irrelevant.
By the time the court finally ruled, energy investment had stalled, the industry had moved abroad, and the new government might have taken over. The process itself is punishment.
Trump's push to reopen coal-fired power plants is a good example. Trump said reversing strict regulations has made coal production too high.
However, litigation is imminent.
Environmental groups are expected to submit their summary before the same “friendly” judges who reliably issue a national ban. There are more than 600 district court judges in the United States, but the same judge is deciding on national policies.
And this legal battle or law is not limited to coal. Biden Admin uses it to turn off the Keystone XL pipeline.
Red countries take the same strategy for Biden's green agenda, but the differences are shocking –Conservative judges are unlikely to issue broad radical rulings.
When conservative district judges rule against Biden administrators, they are usually narrow and targeted. It is rarely nationally unless the Court of Appeal heard.
For example, in February alone, Trump faced 15 bans. In his first semester, he faced 64 bans, while Bush, Obama and Biden administrations saw 32 bans together.
The danger is not just coal.
A few judges can cover our elected leadership and decide on U.S. energy policy, and democracy rewinds it to a seat in court.
The real struggle is not only in court – it opposes a system that allows unlimited legal barriers to voters' will.
Thomas Richard is the editor of the climate change dispatch
