Sierra Club v. EPA

West Virginia v. EPA

597 U.S. 697 (2022)

Applied the 'major questions doctrine' to hold that the EPA lacked authority under the Clean Air Act to issue regulations mandating a shift in electricity generation from coal to natural gas and renewables. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that agencies cannot claim transformative authority in cases of vast economic and political significance without clear congressional authorization.

Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

603 U.S. ___ (2024)

Overruled Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), eliminating the Chevron deference doctrine that had required courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. The Court held that the Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority.

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

467 U.S. 837 (1984)

Established the Chevron deference doctrine: when a statute is ambiguous, courts should defer to a federal agency's reasonable interpretation of the statute it administers. Created a two-step framework that became the most cited case in administrative law. Overruled by Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024).

EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v. EPA

696 F.3d 7 (D.C. Cir. 2012)

Vacated EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (Transport Rule), finding the agency exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act by requiring upwind states to reduce emissions beyond their own contributions to downwind air quality violations. Later reversed by the Supreme Court in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

985 F.3d 1032 (D.C. Cir. 2021)

Upheld a district court order requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to prepare a full environmental impact statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline's crossing under Lake Oahe. The court found that the Corps had failed to adequately consider the pipeline's potential environmental justice impacts on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.