Supreme Court may punt on greenhouse gas regulation case

Last week the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case where the the state of Massachusetts and other states and groups are suing to have the EPA regulate greenhouse gases. It's always difficult to judge what the court is going to do, based on the questions they ask in oral arguments. However, it now appears that much like the pledge of allegiance case a couple of years ago the court may rule that plaintiffs don't even have standing to bring the case. During the hearing Justice Antonin Scalia said "I don't want to have to deal with global warming." It looks like the court may be dis-inclined to rule on this way and may leave it to Congress to decide more explicitly if the EPA should be ruling on CO2 emissions. Of course, even if Congress does pass new regulations the President will likely just issue a signing statement that he's going to ignore it anyway.

[Source: Automotive News - Subscription required]