And it was not at all clear why she insisted on not answering whether climate change was real, said Ann Carlson, who is a director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the U.C.L.A. In the 2007 case Massachusetts v. the Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court declared that greenhouse gases are covered under the Clean Air Act and that the agency can act to counter climate change. Circuit upheld the finding in 2012, and the Supreme Court declined to review the lower court’s decision, allowing it to stand. There is also the question of how Judge Barrett would approach regulatory matters. Professor Carlson suggested that Judge Barrett would seek to interpret the E.P.A.’s powers narrowly.

Source: New York Times October 15, 2020 22:54 UTC