Five news items from last week alone about the Trump Administration's ongoing war on science. Time after time, the government puts ideology ahead of scientific knowledge in public health and environmental protection. legal-planet.org/2025/09/22/t...

When Trump arrogates to himself the power to decide who should be paid and for what, or what federal offices should exist, or whether to obey court orders…. Well, all I can say is that the Constitution has something to say about that.https: //legal-planet.org/2025/09/18/the-forgotten-constitution/

A new ruling from the D.C. Circuit boosts solar+battery facilities, with an Obama appointee and a Trump appointee in the majority. By overruling Chevron, the Supreme Court took away the agency's flexibility to adopt a different stance under Trump. legal-planet.org/2025/09/15/t...

Last week, the D.C. Circuit ruled on an important PURPA issue, handing solar energy producers a big win. @dfarber1950.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/09/15/t...

EPA employees were well within their rights with the dissent letter they wrote. @dfarber1950.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/09/11/v...

EPA is coming down hard on workers who had the gall to write a public letter criticizing the agency's direction. That's a clear violation of their First Amendment rights. Government workers don't check their free speech rights at the door. legal-planet.org/2025/09/11/v...

The U.S. healthcare system is being run by a crackpot who thinks he can diagnose kids' biochemistry by walking through an airport. His control of healthcare puts all of us at gisk. legal-planet.org/2025/09/08/t...

i would opt for renaming DOD the “Department of Alternative Dispute Resolution “. They’re in the business of resolving disputes, and not through litigation.

Thank you, President Trump, for opening the door to carbon tariffs, writes @dfarber1950.bsky.social. "Democrats should make it clear that this will be on the agenda if the Supreme Court upholds Trump’s tariffs." legal-planet.org/2025/09/04/t...

Having a conservative at a university's helm doesn't seem to help in faceoffs with the Trump Administration. The #2 person at Harvard is one of the leading conservative legal scholars in the country. And then there's this. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/04/u...

If the Supreme Court upholds Trump's tariffs, the next President should declare a climate change emergency and impose carbon tariffs on all imports. legal-planet.org/2025/09/04/t...

Since Labor Day is about workers, it's a good time to ask whatever happened to federal protections against toxics in the implementation has been week at best. Short answer: unions were the law's key backers, and they've withered. legal-planet.org/2025/09/01/t...

Which effects count? Conservatives twist cost-benefit rules to ignore environmental harms, skewing results in their favor. Read more on this double standard in a blog post by Member Scholar @dfarber1950.bsky.social of @ucberkeleylaw.bsky.social here: progressivereform.org/cpr-blog/whi...

Can California try again with vehicle pollution limits? A new Sixth Circuit decision provides encouragement. @dfarber1950.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/08/28/c...

Not that long ago, conservatives demanded that the government balance costs and benefits. Now they argue that only the effects that they care about should matter. @dfarber1950.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/08/21/w...

Congress vetoed California's most recent emission rules. A recent DC Circuit case provides support for the idea that California still has a lot of power to regulate in the future. legal-planet.org/2025/08/28/c...

To borrow a phrase from Justice Scalia, sometimes a wolf comes dressed as a sheep, but "this wolf comes as a wolf." legal-planet.org/2025/08/25/w...

There's a concerted campaign by conservative to rig regulatory analysis by counting every conceivable regulatory cost but ruling key regulatory benefits irrelevant. If you count every but hardly any of benefits, it becomes awfully easy to justify deregulation. legal-planet.org/2025/08/21/w...

Trump's effort to roll back climate regulations for power plants fails basic cost-benefit analysis. Even if you leave out the climate benefits entirely, it STILL fails cost-benefit analysis. Raise you hand if you're surprised. legal-planet.org/2025/08/18/t...

Are you a 1L who cares about climate change? This open letter is meant for you. We're in a grim struggle but the fight isn't over. There are many ways that lawyers can contribute to the battle to save the planet. legal-planet.org/2025/08/14/d...

The federal government’s use of the National Guard in D.C. violates the centuries-old ban on using the military as a domestic police force — a principle critical to democracy. bit.ly/3NaSobU

Thanks to @nytimes.com for quoting @dfarber1950.bsky.social, author of CONTESTED GROUND: How to Understand the Limits of Presidential Power, in their piece on Trump building a "maximalist" government: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/u...

NEW: A judge ordered UCLA's suspended NSF grants restored just now, saying the suspensions violated her June preliminary injunction. calmatters.org/education/20...

One of Trump's favorite moves is to declare national emergencies, in the hope of unlocking vast powers. But emergency powers aren't what they used to be these days. legal-planet.org/2025/08/11/e...

In the post-WW2 era, courts bent over backwards to accommodate emergency actions. Not true today. Trump is finding out that emergency powers ain't what they used to be. @dfarber1950.bsky.social legal-planet.org/2025/08/11/e...

The federal government’s demand of $1 billion from @UCLA would devastate the nation’s best public university, cut off life-saving care, halt tech and economic growth and reduce educational access. Stand with UC to protect our vital mission: www.universityofcalifornia.edu/get-involved...

I'm sure that you'll be shocked to learn that, in addition to having delusions about the economic impact of tariffs and tax cuts, Trump is also clueless about the tremendous economic payoff to federal research funding. Here's the evidence. legal-planet.org/2025/08/07/h...

NEPA is under threat from the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Here's an assessment of the challenges it faces. It may be time to return to first principles and rethink just what we want NEPA to accomplish, and how. legal-planet.org/2025/08/06/t...

Billions of dollars are surging into data centers for AI. This is a roadmap to the permitting issues involved with those centers, including energy sources, water use for cooling,and emergency power sources. legal-planet.org/2025/08/04/d...

Trump has flooded the zone with executive orders dealing with the environment -- nearly all designed to increase pollution and diminish our natural heritage. Here's a handy list. legal-planet.org/2025/07/31/l...

When Congress gutted federal fuel efficiency standards, it may not have realized that it might also be opening the door for state standards. legal-planet.org/2025/07/28/d...

The headwinds facing US climate efforts call for innovative approaches to generating capital for climate-related infrastructure. Here are 3 investment models for climate infrastructure projects that are worth exploring. legal-planet.org/2025/07/24/i...

SIx months into Trump 2.0, what are the challenges, and what are the opportunities for continued progress? I thrash out the issue in this podcast with Matt Matern. youtu.be/m1-8bePaEfg?...

Some important global trends: Use of oil for transportation is declining, while coal seems close to peaking. Renerwables are booming. And this is all out of Trump's control. legal-planet.org/2025/07/23/g...

Trump's nominee for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has authority over the national grid, is lacks any obvious qualification -- except maybe personal loyalty to Trump. legal-planet.org/2025/07/21/t...

The Supreme Court's recent decision about environmental impact statements could give agencies a free pass to ignore the most important environmental impacts of their actions, such as the effect of increased oil production on climate change. www.theregreview.org/2025/07/16/f...

Here's an analysis of the recent Supreme Court opinion on environmental impact statements. The opinion missed an opportunity to clean up and simplify NEPA law, settling instead for grumbling about the statute and poorly reasoned arbiterary rules. www.theregreview.org/2025/07/16/f...

Respect for property rights used to be one of the pillars of conservatism. But now you really hear this mentioned. One of the many ways in which MAGA has jettisoned tenets of conservatism based on small government, like low tariffs and balanced budgets. legal-planet.org/2025/07/14/w...

You either have to laugh or cry -- and there are aspects of some of Trump's executive orders that are genuinely funny. Like Trump calling upon the full force and fury of the federal government to stamp out ... paper straws. legal-planet.org/2025/07/11/t...

Trump has replaced oherent, all-of-government rules for environmental impact statements with a welter of agency-specific rules and guidance. The resulting chaos is to no one's benefit. You won't be surprised that the new rules limit public participation. legal-planet.org/2025/07/07/a...

I didn't think Trump could do anything to shock me at this point, but he and his minions have managed it.

I'm hereby announcing a new meme, "Congress Always Caves Anyway" or CACA. It's not the meme Congressional Republicans want to be known for, but it's the one thjey've earned.

A thought for the Fourth: The Founding Fathers had a reverence for nature that is sadly lost in today's Republicans. John Adams, for instance, said, the finest works of art "must be pronounced mean, and despicable Baubles" in comparison with Nature. legal-planet.org/2025/07/03/j...

A recent D.C. Circuit decision makes it clear that agency decisions are dictated by the criteria provided by Congress. There is no general mandate to use cost-benefit analysis as the basis for regulation, although agencies may sometimes have discretion to do so. legal-planet.org/2025/07/02/d...

Cat videos remain the highest and best use of the internet.

I think people are overestimating the impact of the Supreme Court's recent decision that limits certain injunctions. The decision's bark be worse than it's bite. For instance, the Court specifically exempted class actions. legal-planet.org/2025/06/30/d...

EPA contends that carbon emissions from the U.S. power sector - 1.5 billion tons a year -- are too insignificant to warrant regulation. That's not even consistent with what Trump's EPA decided in his last term. legal-planet.org/2025/06/27/t...

Trump's EPA plans to halt any regulation of carbon emissions from powerplants. Though these power plants emit over a billion tons of CO2 a year, EPA argues that these emissions are too insignificant to regulate, based on a complete misreading of the Clean Air Act. legal-planet.org/2025/06/24/t...

Be prepared for that July 4 get-together with the cranky uncle. There's a lot of confusion out there about clean energy. Here's how to talk with people who are unsure about it and won't be persuaded by arguments about climate change. legal-planet.org/2025/06/19/t...

The NYT seems to consistently favor Columbia's tactic of collaborating as opposed to Harvard's tactic of resistance, which they continually throw shade on. But why? www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/n...