EPA seeks to salvage civil rights regs amid legal attack

By Sean Reilly | 10/04/2024 04:13 PM EDT

The effort comes on the heels of Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s push to vacate disparate impact regulations nationally.

EPA headquarters.

EPA headquarters in Washington. Francis Chung/POLITICO

EPA is rebutting Louisiana’s bid to void a key underpinning of a national civil rights program.

U.S. District Judge James Cain Jr. of the Western District of Louisiana has already granted a permanent injunction against enforcement of disparate environmental impact regulations within the state’s borders, lawyers for EPA wrote in a Thursday filing.

“Any further relief would be unnecessary to remedy the State’s injuries and is therefore improper,” the filing says.

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It comes in response to a motion brought last month by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) seeking to vacate the disparate impact regulations nationally. By Murrill’s framing, a subsequent decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals obligated Cain to follow though.

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