"The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, announced Wednesday in a letter hand-delivered to President Trump, could bring about sweeping changes to U.S. environmental law, endangering the federal government’s authority to fight climate change and care for the natural world.

With Kennedy gone, a more conservative Supreme Court could overhaul key aspects of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, legal scholars say. And any new justice selected by President Trump would likely seek to weaken the Environmental Protection Agency, curtail its ability to fight global warming, and weaken its protections over wetlands.

The reason has to do with simple math. As on many other issues, Kennedy has functioned as the court’s swing vote on the environment, occasionally joining with the court’s four more liberal justices to preserve some aspect of green law."

Robinson Meyer Reports for the Atlantic June 27, 2018. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Justice Kennedy's Replacement Could Make It Harder to Fight Climate Change" (TIME) [3]

"Supreme Court: Is Massachusetts v. EPA a Goner?" (ClimateWire) [4]

"Supreme Court Justice Kennedy Is Retiring. Here’s What That Means For The Environment." (Grist) [5]

"What Does Justice Kennedy’s Retirement Mean for Environmental Protection?" (Legal Planet) [6]

"Retiring Justice Kennedy Shaped Clean Water Act’s Boundaries" (Bloomberg Environment) [7]