The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that fossil fuel companies can challenge California’s stricter automobile emissions standards.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided on Friday with fuel producers that had opposed California’s standards for vehicle emissions and electric cars under a federal air pollution law, agreeing that their legal challenge to the mandates should not have been dismissed.

The justices in a 7-2 ruling overturned a lower court’s decision to throw out the lawsuit by a Valero Energy (VLO.N), opens new tab subsidiary and fuel industry groups. The lower court had concluded that the plaintiffs lacked the required legal standing to challenge a 2022 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to let California set its own regulations.

“The government generally may not target a business or industry through stringent and allegedly unlawful regulation, and then evade the resulting lawsuits by claiming that the targets of its regulation should be locked out of court as unaffected bystanders,” conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority.

The Clean Air Act overrides state laws on motor vehicle emissions but permits the EPA to grant California a waiver to set its own standards.

Other states that were granted exemptions include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

The EPA granted California a waiver during President Obama’s administration that President Trump partially revoked it during his first term but Biden fully restored.

What is also significant is what Justice Kavanaugh noted that (emphasis mine): EPA has repeatedly altered its legal position on whether the Clean Air Act authorizes California regulations targeting greenhouse-gas emissions from new motor vehicles between Presidential administrations.

In other words, the Golden State tried to play fast and loose with the rules attempting to do a bait-and-switch on their legal defense depending on who was in the White House. Fortunately, the Justices caught this and ruled accordingly. If the ruling went differently, automobile manufacturers would suffer car prices would go up. Than again, that is the point.

PHOTO CREDIT: Interior of the United States Supreme Court By Phil Roeder – Flickr: Supreme Court of the United States, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32650356