Supreme Court halts Biden’s ‘good neighbor’ plan to curb smog

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday upended a Biden administration effort to  wafting across state lines in the latest decision from the high court that undermined the federal government’s power to protect the environment.

The decision is a win for the Republican-led states and industry groups that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s “good neighbor” plan, which imposed strict emission limits on power plants and industrial sources in upwind states to reduce pollution for their counterparts downwind.

While the decision technically doesn’t end that effort, it places implementation of the Biden program on hold through what will be a complicated legal fight that will almost uncertainly continue past the November election and into next year – and possibly another presidential administration.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 5-4 majority. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a dissent, joined by the three liberal justices, that said the court was intervening too quickly without seeing the full development of the case’s record in lower court proceedings.

“Our emergency docket requires us to evaluate quickly the merits of applications without the benefit of full briefing and reasoned lower court opinions,” Barrett wrote. “Given those limitations, we should proceed all the more cautiously in cases like this one with voluminous, technical records and thorny legal questions.”

Biden officials and downwind states such as New York, Connecticut and Delaware warned of “dangerous ozone spikes” affecting the health of residents – particularly children and the elderly – if the court sided with Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, the states that filed the emergency appeal.

The decision represented the latest major setback the Supreme Court has delivered to environmental regulators, as well as to President Joe Biden’s climate and environmental agenda. In 2022, the court’s conservative majority limited EPA’s  from power plants. Last year, it curbed its .

The latest ruling comes during a pivotal election year in which many young voters in particular are seeking climate action from the White House.

This story has been updated with additional details.

The-CNN-Wire