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CIAO Focus, December 2006:
Global Warming and the U.S. Supreme Court
On November 29th, for the first time ever, the issue of global warming was brought before the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs in the suit, comprised of 12 states (CA, CT, IL, MA, ME, NJ, NM, NY, OR, RI, VT and WA) backed by several cities and various environmental groups, are arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency is not doing enough to regulate greenhouse gases they claim contribute to global warming and want the EPA to set emission standards for new cars and trucks. They say that carbon dioxide is a health hazard like other pollutants and is therefore subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act, which was passed in 1970.
The Bush administration, preferring a more narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act, is arguing that the EPA does not have the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, largely because global warming was not considered a threat when the act was signed into law. President Bush has said he favors voluntary measures by industry to curb potentially harmful gases over government regulation.
The Court is sharply divided over this issue with Justices Stephen G. Breyer, John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg appearing to sympathize with the plaintiffs while Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito are taking the government line. That leaves Justice Anthony M. Kennedy to cast the deciding vote which will ultimately determine whether or not the Supreme Court chooses to enter into the highly politicized debate of global warming.
This month CIAO examines global warming and the U.S. Supreme Court.
From the CIAO Database:
Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System
Climate Change (CIAO case study)
The U.S. Response to the Kyoto Protocol –A Realistic Alternative?
Race to the Top: The Expanding Role of State Renewable Portfolio Standards
Acclimatizing - How to Think Sensibly about Global Warming
Outside Links*:
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/
The International Research Institute for Climate and Society
http://iri.columbia.edu
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/
Responding to Global Warming Skeptics (Union of Concerned Scientists)
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science/skeptic-organizations.html
Ocean and Climate Change Institute (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/viewTopic.do?o=read&id=521
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (oral arguments)
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/05-1120.pdf
Earth's Variable Climate (e-seminar)
http://ci.columbia.edu/1403
* Outside links are not maintained. For broken outside links, CIAO recommends the Way Back Machine.
