Chairman Smith: “The Supreme Court yesterday put the White House on notice, calling EPA’s regulatory actions ‘outrageous.’ Costly and burdensome regulations put American jobs at risk. I’m encouraged by the strong stand the Court took to stop the Obama administration from undermining the democratic process. The division of authority between Congress and President is essential to the preservation of liberty. The Court rebuked the EPA for ‘laying claim to extravagant statutory power over the national economy’ that even the EPA admits would transform the law ‘unrecognizable to the Congress that designed it.’ This decision takes a step toward protecting Americans from an agency that, according to the ruling, ‘insists on seizing expansive powers.’”
Background: In December, Chairman Smith filed a “friend of the court” brief arguing that the EPA had overstepped its bounds by re-writing the law. The brief explained that to allow the EPA to re-write the law to suit its regulatory agenda “would, in the words of Judge Kavanaugh, ‘green-light a significant shift in power from the Legislative Branch to the Executive Branch,’ effectively giving the Executive Branch ‘the authority to set economic and social policy as it sees fit.’” The brief stated: “Our Constitution reserves the power to enact, amend, or repeal statutes to Congress alone.”