The Supreme Court opened the door Friday for fuel producers to challenge California vehicle emissions standards in a tailored decision that sparked a stinging rebuke from one of the court’s liberal justices.
The justices found in a 7-2 decision that a lower court had improperly blocked Diamond Alternative Energy and others from challenging the EPA waiver that allowed California to set more stringent car pollution rules.
Written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the opinion focused on whether the fuel producers could pursue their claims and didn’t adopt the fuel challengers’ request for a broad “categorical” rule, which would hold that when the government denies a party the ability to compete in a marketplace it has standing — even without proving injury.
Kavanaugh noted at the outset the “sole issue” before the court was whether the fuel producers had standing to maintain their lawsuit.
