You Can’t Fool All Of The People All Of The Time

California Cleans Trump’s Clock In Court

 

Early Environmental Litigator

Sometimes judges can read:

In its rush to delay, repeal and rewrite rules it considers unduly burdensome to industry, the administration has experienced significant setbacks in court. Federal judges have sided with California and environmental groups in cases concerning air pollution, pesticides and the royalties that the government receives from companies that extract oil, gas and coal from public land…

The administration’s early losses stem from a variety of problems, including moving too quickly to change regulations, ignoring procedural rules and failing to present evidence to support its position, according to California officials and legal experts.

Well, it’s kind of hard to present evidence to support your position when, you know, you don’t have any. And that’s what the best scholars and experts say:

Legal experts said they couldn’t recall agencies under any recent president having such a low success rate in court. An analysis of litigation over the administration’s regulatory rollbacks done by the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law found that judges have ruled against it in 37 out of 39 cases.

“Every administration has its ups and downs in the courts,” said Sean Hecht, an expert on environmental law at UCLA’s School of Law. “Still, it’s safe to say, the Trump administration has done particularly badly.”

Yes, that’s our Sean Hecht, being much more diplomatic than, say, me (although that’s a low bar). Read the whole thing.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra

Mitch McConnell is rapidly pushing through even the most egregiously unqualified and partisan judges onto the bench. We should expect that the totals will change. But at least for now, the dam has not burst. Yet.

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About Jonathan

Jonathan Zasloff teaches Torts, Land Use, Environmental Law, Comparative Urban Planning Law, Legal History, and Public Policy Clinic – Land Use, the Environment and Loc…

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About Jonathan

Jonathan Zasloff teaches Torts, Land Use, Environmental Law, Comparative Urban Planning Law, Legal History, and Public Policy Clinic – Land Use, the Environment and Loc…

READ more

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