The Supreme Court this term will have several opportunities to dismantle guardrails on presidential authority, potentially fueling the Trump administration’s power to roll back environmental protections and handcuff federal climate action.
Though many key battles are still percolating in lower benches, legal experts say several significant cases could arrive at the high court by spring. And the justices are already making decisions in some disputes on their emergency — or “shadow” docket — including a preliminary ruling Friday that allowed the president to block $4 billion in foreign aid appropriated by Congress.
“We’re going to find out whether the court thinks that presidential power can be drawn this broadly or not,” said David Super, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.
The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority, which has delivered significant early victories to President Donald Trump, will be pressed to show whether it is willing to use the major questions doctrine — a legal theory wielded by conservatives against the Biden administration — against Trump. The doctrine says that Congress must clearly authorize federal agencies — such as EPA — to regulate on economically and politically significant matters.
