Ketanji Brown Jackson (Wikipedia)

CNN reports the U.S. Supreme Court has curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to broadly regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants.

The decision is a major defeat for the Biden administration’s attempts to slash emissions at a moment when scientists are sounding alarms about the accelerating pace of global warming.

In addition, the court cut back the agency’s authority in general invoking the so-called “major questions” doctrine — a ruling that will impact the federal government’s authority to regulate in other areas of climate policy, as well as regulation of the internet and worker safety.

The ruling was 6-3. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the conservative majority, with the three liberal justices dissenting.

The decision is one of the most consequential cases for climate change and clean air in decades.

Also, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the 116th justice of the Supreme Court, making history as the first Black woman to serve on the highest court of the nation.

Jackson was confirmed by the Senate in April and is filling the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
Though her addition to the bench won’t change the ideological balance of the court, it marks a significant historic milestone for the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary.