Hoyer Statement on Supreme Court Decision Undermining the Clean Air Act

“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is another dangerous setback for our country and the freedoms it promises to the American people. In less than three weeks, the Court’s extremist and activist majority has endangered public safety by making it easier for dangerous guns to flood our communities, has endangered women’s lives by overturning fifty years of precedent in striking down Roe v. Wade, and has now endangered the health of our children and grandchildren by limiting the EPA's ability to protect public health and regulate dangerous air pollution like greenhouse gases. In today’s ruling, the Court’s extremist majority appears to see itself as the legislative branch instead of the judicial, claiming that it knows Congress’s intent better than the lawmakers who acted clearly and plainly in enacting legislation that was meant to protect public health and the environment by regulating harmful emissions, ​including those that contribute to the climate crisis. As Justice Kagan points out in her dissent, ‘the Court appoints itself - instead of Congress or the expert agency - the decision-maker on climate policy.’ That is not how our system of checks and balances works, and this new reality of an activist and extremist Court means that our country needs a strong Democratic Congress and Administration to enact policies that address the climate crisis, protect women’s right to reproductive freedom, and further measures to keep our communities safe from gun violence. That is what is at stake ​this November for the years ahead and for the future of our country. I urge the Senate to act on legislation to address the existential threat posed by the climate crisis, including House-passed measures to lower Americans’ energy costs and secure a clean energy future.”