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YESTERDAY’S SUPREME COURT RULING on presidential immunity got most of the publicity, but a blockbuster 6-3 ruling last Friday from the court will radically change — and weaken — regulatory policy on everything from clean air to patient protection rules.
THIS RULING, IN THE SO-CALLED CHEVRON CASE. IS THE CULMINATION of years of litigation from business groups that have contended that regulatory agencies over-interpreted laws and slowed economic growth. This ruling will usher in a new era of reduced regulation (and, not incidentally, it will be a windfall for Washington lobbying firms.)
LIBERALS HAVE A LONG LAUNDRY list of regulations that could be overturned. Here’s just a sampling of what may be affected: Potential weakening of patient protection rules, new consumer safeguards, tech regulations, such as net neutrality rules, potential weakening of consumer and employee rights, and a wide range of federal regulations of everything from power plant emissions to electric vehicles to transmission lines.
THE COURT’S RULING ALSO could make it easier for opponents of federal regulations to challenge them in court, prompting a rush of new litigation, while also injecting uncertainty into businesses and industries.
OVER THE PAST SIX MONTHS, the Biden administration has issued the most ambitious rules in the country’s history, aimed at cutting climate-warming pollution from cars, trucks, power plants and oil and gas wells.
WITHOUT THOSE RULES, it would very likely be impossible for President Biden to achieve his goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, as part of the fight against global warming.
THIS RULING could have a major impact on the health care industry, which is governed by elaborate regulations covering how hospitals operate, what providers are paid for medical services and how insurance companies are monitored by the government. A dizzying array of regulations from the Food and Drug Administration may be challenged.
IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO SUMMARIZE all of the potential impacts, so we recommend articles last weekend in the New York Times and on the CNN web site, which detail how a looser regulatory climate would affect key sectors of the economy.
THE OTHER SUPREME COURT RULING, of course, was on presidential immunity, a victory for Donald Trump that will allow him to delay and appeal well into 2025. Trump is a master at stretching out legal cases, and he may never go to trial on most of the pending litigation. But there’s one intriguing caveat.
SUDDENLY, District of Columbia judge Tanya Chutkan is about to become a major player. She must decide whether to hold a miniature version of a trial to decide what allegations in the special counsel’s indictment constitute official acts as opposed to simply personal acts. Maggie Haberman writes in this morning’s New York Times that this would be welcome to Democrats, who want to keep alive publicity regarding Trump’s conduct.
BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, this has been a horrible week for the Democrats, starting with the Chevron ruling. Some Democrats we talked with yesterday were resigned to a Nov. 5 election debacle, but others were angry at Joe Biden and his inner circle, who spun a sanguine story about Biden’s health that obviously was untrue.
Related: Missing the Point on Joe Biden
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