A federal judge in Texas blocked a Biden administration rule that would have required states and cities to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.
The judge ruled that the Federal Highway Administration exceeded its authority in issuing the rule, as Congress had not authorized the agency to require such emissions reporting and target-setting.
Republicans had argued the rule improperly imposed the Biden climate agenda on conservative states.
“A federal administrative agency cannot act without congressional authorization. Here, the Federal Highway Administration created a rule requiring the states to measure, report, and set declining targets for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles using the interstate and national highway systems,” U.S. District Judge James Hendrix said.
“Texas sued, alleging that the agency lacked authority to enact the rule. Given the statutory text’s plain language and context, the Court agrees,” the judge said.
“If the people, through Congress, believe that the states should spend the time and money necessary to measure and report GHG emissions and set declining emission targets, they may do so by amending Section 150 or passing a new law,” he said. “But an agency cannot make this decision for the people.”
“This was a clear case of blatant overreach by the Biden Administration from the beginning, and we commend the Court for its ruling that a ‘federal administrative agency cannot act without congressional authorization,’” Rep. Sam Graves and Rep. Rick Crawford said.
“Congress rejected the inclusion of a GHG performance measure requirement when the infrastructure law was developed, making the Administration’s rulemaking an unlawful attempt to circumvent Congress and force this one-size-fits-all burden upon every state and community across the country,” they said.
Merchan “is suffering from an acute case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote.
Another federal judge criticized comments by former President Trump complaining about a New York judge and the judge’s daughter posting about Trump, saying public officials should be careful not to make threatening statements that could potentially incite harm.
“And it’s particularly problematic when those comments are in the form of a threat, especially if they’re directed at one’s family,” U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia Reggie Walton said. “I mean, we do these jobs because we’re committed to the rule of law and believe in the rule of law, and the rule of law can only function effectively when we have judges who are prepared to carry out their duties without the threat of potential physical harm.”
Walton added that “it’s very important that people in positions of authority be very circumspect in reference to the things that they say so that they’re not causing others to act on what they say and maybe cause injury or deaths somewhat as a result of that.”
