📍Episode 2 is live. Soon after Trump took office, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture purged vital climate-focused information from its web pages. @cristianfarias.com & @stephaniekrent.bsky.social discuss how our lawsuit with @earthjustice.org helped restore it. Listen: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

So, uh, it certainly looks like DOJ intended to file a letter to Judge Liman in MTA v. Duffy, but….it accidentally filed a letter containing its legal advice to the Department of Transportation instead storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The Department of Energy is rebranding the Solar Decathlon. My bet: the "Gas Decathlon": a contest to see which student team can come up with the least efficient building design. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Take a stand or bend the knee. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/o...

Earthjustice invites D.C. bar members to meet Diane Seltzer, candidate for bar president, on April 22. You must RSVP at the link. Remember that voting begins on April 15, and that Diane's opponent is Brad Bondi. RSVP here: tinyurl.com/498vwymc

You can't make this stuff up. In the first sentence of a request to disqualify a judge, Trump's DOJ demanded proceedings "free from any suggestion of impartiality."

Pete Hegseth today

You know you're a lower court MAGA judge when Neil Gorsuch says he has "no trouble" rejecting arguments you found convincing. www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...

I filled out todays's "progress towards petro-state dictatorship" bingo card with just this one article: Trump megadonor. Attack on oil industry safety rules. Filing before Judge Kacsmaryk. DOJ refusal to defend settled precedent. Bingo! subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

This is what happens when you have an entire cabinet full of folks who would NEVER pass a regular security clearance. Led by a president who would never be able to pass one either.

I have no sympathy for CJ Roberts’ predicament. He helped create it by refusing to address gerrymandering, gutting the Voting Rights Act, outlawing campaign finance reform, and stalling Trump’s criminal prosecution.

Bingo. If you have any dealings with the government, you would be nuts to rely on Paul, Weiss. And I’m shedding no tears for its downfall: the firm gets an “F” from Law Students for Climate Accountability.

As its website proudly notes, the "Weiss" in Paul, Weiss was Louis Weiss, who was famous for his commitment to civil rights. He would be ashamed of the firm he founded today: its partners just admitted that they care more about their pockets than their principles. www.paulweiss.com/about-the-fi...

A federal court’s jurisdiction does *not* stop at the water’s edge. The question is whether the *defendants* are subject to the court order, not *where* the conduct being challenged takes place. Were it otherwise, the government could act lawlessly overseas and courts would be powerless to stop it.

EPA repealing its GHG endangerment finding to "drive a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion" is like putting Galileo in jail to make the sun go around the earth. www.epa.gov/newsreleases...

Trump's environmental actions, like his tariff policy, looks more like culture war than policy agenda. Because this particular move is like deleting the word "door" from a building code. www.eenews.net/articles/fem...

With @mjsdc.bsky.social on judges finally breaking the third wall slate.com/news-and-pol...

“That’s just not right in our country, is it? That we run our agencies with lies like that and stain somebody’s record for the rest of their life? Who is going to want to work in a government that would do that to them?” I heart Judge Alsup. www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

“No one sues the government lightly,” said [BigLaw managing partner]. “You want to make sure you are doing it for fundamentally important reasons” Translation: happy to challenge regulations on behalf of business. Chicken to challenge dictators on behalf of real people. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Last year, China added 82,277 heavy-duty electric trucks to its roads. The U.S. added 1,476. Ending investments in clean trucking hands China a major victory in its campaign to dominate the future of manufacturing. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

As a lawyer, I can't think of more clear-cut proof that we now have an authoritarian government. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

“The majority is saying EPA can still protect water quality if it invests more staff time in issuing each permit,” Sankar said. “I guess they haven’t heard that Trump is gutting the agency.” @maxinejoselow.bsky.social wapo.st/3XntnA0

Expanding offshore drilling is dangerous and dumb. Here's conservative Florida Rep. Byron Donalds suddenly turning all NIMBY: "I will tell my colleagues, you can do that wherever you want, but not off of Florida’s coast." subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

It is not Zelensky and Ukraine that should be thanking the West. It is the West that should be thanking Zelensky and Ukraine.

BigLaw partners: You've been cheering the DoJ lawyers who are choosing their principles over their jobs. Will they cheer for you when you refuse to defend anyone that Trump targets? www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

My views on rumors that EPA will withdraw the 'endangerment finding' that is the foundation of GHG emissions regulations. "It’s like declaring smoking doesn’t cause cancer. If they want to waste their time with that . . . go for it. We’ll win.” InsideEPA.com insideepa.com/daily-news/z...

Unlike the pallid zealots of DOGE, farmers have to deal with the reality of climate change, and they rely on science and data to do that. So we're suing on behalf of farmers like Wes Gillingham to stop USDA from removing climate information from its websites. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/c...

Musk is firing all the good lawyers, and Trump is getting some bad legal advice. Related?

In 2010 I investigated the causes of the Deepwater Horizon blowout on behalf of a commission created by President Obama. Pretty clear that none of Trump's people care about any of the lessons learned from that incident. So...we're headed to court. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/c...

DOJ leadership has put all Public Integrity Section lawyers into a room with 1 hour to decide who will dismiss Adams indictment or else all will be fired. Sending them strength to stand by their oath, which is to support the Constitution, not the president’s political agenda. 🇺🇸

World’s smartest businessman begins massive government cost-cutting campaign by attacking the smallest items in the budget.

The Trump administration is doing a lot of very bad things right now, but the purges going on at the Justice Department threaten the basic rule of law. Here are three true experts on the impacts on environmental law. legal-planet.org/2025/02/04/c...

By the way, it’s pronounced “Core.” heatmap.news/sparks/army-...

MAGA lawyers are arguing that the Endangered Species Act can't protect species found only in one state because that would violate the Commerce Clause. So...Congress can't protect species after they *really* become endangered? earthjustice.org/press/2025/c...

Why am I concerned about reassignment of DOJ section chiefs? Their smarts and credibility blunted the instincts of Trump's politicals last time. They helped uphold norms like "DOJ maintains consistent legal positions," or "DOJ defends constitutionality of existing laws." No chiefs, no checks.

At least 5 career leaders of DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division just got reassigned to the new "sanctuary cities" team. Includes chiefs of appellate, environmental crimes, environmental enforcement, and natural resources divisions and the head of the office of environmental justice.

Always fun to talk with @dahlialithwick.bsky.social even if the subject isn't fun (SCOTUS and environmental law). Confusing case, messy argument, big implications for (arguably) the most important environmental law of all: NEPA. tinyurl.com/wn82yztb

Pretty infuriating that WSJ op-ed pages the day before argument seem to function as supplemental briefs. I trust that the Justices read the parties' briefs with the same attention. (This from yesterday's SCOTUS NEPA argument.)

"Zeldin said he spent his Thanksgiving break getting up to speed on environmental policy, including by watching five hours’ worth of Pruitt’s and Wheeler’s testimony." I don't even know where to begin. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...