BURSTThe Supreme Court indicated Friday that it will take up a case that could revive industry efforts to axe California’s stricter-than-federal vehicle emissions standards.
The high court granted a petition from companies and groups representing oil refiners and biofuel producers that seeks to revive their lawsuit against the Biden administration’s reinstatement of California’s clean cars program.
In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gave California the OK to enforce rules that required car companies to sell new cars in the state that produced less pollution — including by requiring a share of the cars sold to be electric or hybrid. Several other states have also adopted California’s rule.
The industry and red states sued over this action. They have argued that the Biden administration was essentially allowing California to act as “a junior-varsity EPA.”
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out their challenge on a technicality — saying they could not bring the case forward because they did not sufficiently prove how it would harm them.
On Friday, the Supreme Court said in a brief order that it would hear their effort to revive the case. The court declined their request to hear the underlying argument, though, only saying it would address the circuit court’s reason for tossing it.
If the case is revived, that means lower courts would then have to decide whether to uphold the EPA's waiver — though the underlying case could eventually make its way to the high court as well.
The Supreme Court's decision comes as the EPA is weighing whether to approve a subsequent car regulation from California. That later regulation would go even further — banning the sale of gas-powered cars in California altogether by 2035.
Even if that waiver is approved by the Biden administration in its final weeks, the incoming Trump administration is likely to overturn it — though doing so could require a lengthy rulemaking process.
Updated at 4:14 p.m. EST