President Obama (White House photo)
The U.S. Supreme Court put the brakes on President Obama's climate-change agenda on Tuesday.
Obama's regulations on carbon emissions must be put on hold until a litany of lawsuits by 27 states are resolved, the judges ruled. The states argued Obama's EPA regulations were tantamount to "an unprecedented power grab."
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The practical effect of court's 5-4 ruling is that strict new fossil-fuel regulations within Obama's "Clean Power Plan" will not be enforced until after Obama leaves office. The president's original plan was to force power plants to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent over 2005 levels by 2030.
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Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagen and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
"This wasn't a rule so much as it was a reimagining of the entire electricity system of the United States," Michael McKenna, a GOP energy strategist, told the Washington Times.
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"We are thrilled that the Supreme Court realized the rule's immediate impact and froze its implementation, protecting workers and saving countless dollars as our fight against its legality continues," Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia added in a statement released Tuesday.
A federal appellate court has scheduled further hearings on the lawsuits for June 2, the newspaper reported.
Lawsuits related to Obama's regulations are predicted to continue at least into 2017. The Supreme Court is expected to revisit the issue at that time.
