can t do in terms of regulating on climate change and then we ll talk about the administrative state. jess? reporter: it s interesting because the chief justice in writing this opinion, one thing he said was that, you know, it seems a sensible solution that the epa might try to regulate coal emissions. however, even though he recognizes that it s a pressing issue for the epa, this court then saying it is not plausible that congress gave epa the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme, a decision of such mandatignitudes with congress. something that this conservative majority has long sought to do, we ve already seen it do it multiple times when it comes to the power of the cdc and osha with covid restrictions. this court now going a big step further, saying that the epa
that congress would have to delegate power to an agency on any decision of vast economic and political significance very specifically, very clearly in its language. otherwise it will be able to be challenged on a major questions doctrine ground, which this court made clear will uphold. we in congress are to set the following limits. i mean, that s pretty specific. folks at home might say that doesn t sound like a big deal. fine. multiple that by the thousands and thousands of agencies setting thousands and thousands of different rules on the ground for every single facet of our bureaucratic state. maybe that s the goal. neighbor idea is we just don t want congress doing this at all. we d rather these issues not be regulated by the federal government. that s the real takeaway here. unless we actually think
some conservatives wanted in overruling the chevron case altogether. this decision is a defeat for the biden administration. it s a defeat for the regulatory agencies and a defeat for the cause of limiting climate change, but it s not quite as bad a defeat on climate change. how fast you read but it s notable the court even took up these case because neither ruling was even in effect. let s go to rene marsh. they covers that day in and day out. talk about the actual implications of this given the same day oral argument happened in this case, the u.n. came out with this climate report and said any further delay in addressing climate change will miss a brief and closing window of opportunity to secure a livable, sustainable future for all. reporter: as we listen to
better position today to tackle the issues at hand than we ever have been. but in the white house statement, i just noticed it talks about this is a court aiming to move the country backwards. reporter: yeah. i mean, they are becoming incredibly critical of the supreme court in every comment he makes. that has raised a lot of questions and pressure on this white house from democrats, some like alexandria ocasio-cortez, elizabeth warren from the senate saying they need to change the court. it structurally needs to change because of these decisions that are coming down. you saw aoc weighing in once again after this epa decision came out saying not only that, maybe they should just get rid of the court because of the danger it poses to the entire country, the world, really, with this epa decision. so far that is not something the president has backed when it comes to changes at the supreme court, whether that s expanding
deportation. trump tried to end that. what john roberts did, poppy, when he cast the deciding vote you re recalling, is say that the administration did not offer a proper explanation. it did not do it correctly. that theme we saw in that decision just two years ago, which feels like it was yesterday, comes through loud and clear in this. in fact, what the chief, again, writing the decision, this time he s joined by now the three remaining liberals and justice brett kavanaugh saying you can do this, but you just have to do it with the proper explanation, which is what jessica just told us. yeah, it still to go back to a lower court. if you re going to do this, the court has to cut square corners here. we ll get david chalian in on the politics of this. chief justice roberts sends this back to the district court judge who decides this case in