THE SUPREMES ON GLOBAL WARMING. If the end of my vacation is proving a harsh readjustment, it's nevertheless nice to return to Tapped with some good news. In this case, the Supreme Court has ruled that not only can the EPA classify greenhouse gases as pollutants, but it should. Under Bush, the EPA itself was claiming that it lacked the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and thus work against global warming. With the aged liberal lion John Paul Stevens writing for the 5-4 majority, the Court not only rejected the EPA's claims that greenhouse gases fall outside its purview, but rejected the EPA's contention that they didn't need to restrict greenhouse gases even if they could. The immediate impact of this is that state efforts in California, Massachusetts, and elsewhere are safe from federal obstruction. The longer-range effect is that the feds essentially have to do something about global warming. As David Roberts writes at Grist, "Bush's isolation on this issue is now total. No one stands with him -- not Congress, not the business community, not the religious community, not the public at large, not the courts. Only James Inhofe. That's a grim assessment indeed." For those curious, Alito and Roberts both voted with the minority. --Ezra Klein
