Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a set of cases challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The justices’ decision in this pending case, West Virginia v. EPA, would have a huge impact on environmental law and regulation, especially as world leaders at the G20 summit are debating how to slow global climate change.
David Driesen
Syracuse University legal professor David Driesen, who specializes in environmental law, had this reaction to the news of the Supreme Court hearing the case:
“It’s unheard of for a court to review an abandoned rule. The Supreme Court has abandoned its role of “calling balls and strikes” in favor of asking for the pitcher who will tee up abstract issues appealing to conservative judicial ideology. And the timing of the decision, on the eve of a climate meeting in Glasgow where America’s credibility hinges, in part, on the government having adequate regulatory authority to meaningfully address the climate crisis, looks very suspicious. “
Driesen is a University Professor at the College of Law and focuses on constitutional law, environmental law, law and economics. He has written four books: The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power (Stanford University Press) The Economic Dynamics of Law (Cambridge University Press), the textbook Environmental Law: A Conceptual and Pragmatic Approach (Aspen Kluwer with Robert Adler and Kirsten Engel) and The Economic Dynamics of Environmental Law (MIT Press), which won the Lynton Keith Caldwell Award from the The American Political Science Association. He has also published two edited volumes, Beyond Environmental Law: Policy Proposals for a Better Future (Cambridge University Press with Alyson Flournoy) and Economic Thought and U.S. Climate Change Policy (MIT Press).
Please contact Ellen James Mbuqe, director of media relations at Syracuse University, at ejmbuqe@syr.edu or 412-496-0551 to schedule an interview with Driesen for any upcoming coverage of this case.
