Trump admin rethinks Biden’s fight against DC Circuit NEPA ruling

By Niina H. Farah | 01/24/2025 06:42 AM EST

DOJ said it will reevaluate the appeal in light of a new executive order rescinding CEQ’s regulatory authority.

Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony.

President Donald Trump takes part in a signing ceremony Monday. Pool photo by Melina Mara

The Trump administration wants a federal appeals court to hold off on deciding whether to reverse last year’s surprise ruling striking down the regulatory power of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

On Thursday, Justice Department attorneys told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they plan to revisit the Biden administration’s request for a full panel of the court’s active judges to reconsider whether CEQ can regulate federal agencies’ implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

The filing comes days after President Donald Trump rescinded the Carter-era directive — Executive Order 11991 — that initially gave CEQ its regulatory power. Trump reversed the 1977 order as part of his broader “energy emergency” declaration, helping cement the D.C. Circuit’s finding that CEQ does not have authority to issue NEPA regulations.

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“We relied on that now-rescinded executive order in our second argument for rehearing en banc,” DOJ attorneys said of the Carter order in a short brief Thursday in Marin Audubon Society v. Federal Aviation Administration.

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