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Trump administration wanted a pause in emissions case

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Justices freeze a case over student debt forgiveness

By Andrew Chung

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court declined on

Thursday to place on hold a dispute over California's standards

for vehicle emissions and electric cars even as President Donald

Trump's administration considers policy shifts that touch upon

pending litigation at the nation's highest judicial body.

The justices denied the administration's request to pause

further action in the case, as well as two cases concerning

which courts may hear challenges to EPA rules. The justices

previously agreed to take up these cases but have not yet heard

arguments in them.

The justices, however, granted a request to put on hold a

dispute over a rule issued by Democratic former President Joe

Biden's administration that would make it easier for students

defrauded by their colleges to have their loans forgiven.

As is customary, the court did not explain the reasons for

these decisions, issuing only brief orders in each case.

Trump, a Republican, began his second term as president on

January 20. Legal experts expect his administration to change

positions from the ones taken under Biden in a number of major

cases at the court.

These include one involving Tennessee's ban on

gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and another

one concerning a federal regulation targeting largely

untraceable firearms called "ghost guns," though those were not

among the cases placed on hold.

The justices on December 13 agreed to hear the dispute over

California's vehicle standards, which involves a 2022 exception

given to that state by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

during Biden's presidency to national vehicle emission standards

set by the agency under the Clean Air Act anti-pollution law.

A Valero Energy ( VLO ) subsidiary and fuel industry groups

appealed a lower court's rejection of their challenge to the

EPA's waiver decision.

States and municipalities are generally preempted from

enacting their own standards. But Congress let the EPA waive the

preemption rule to allow Democratic-governed California to set

certain regulations that are stricter than federal standards.

The EPA's action reinstated a waiver for California to set

its own tailpipe emissions limits and zero-emission vehicle

mandate through 2025, reversing a 2019 decision during Trump's

first term in office rescinding the waiver.

In asking the Supreme Court to pause the case, Acting

Solicitor General Sarah Harris had said in a January 24 filing,

"After the change in administration, EPA's acting administrator

has determined that the agency should reassess the basis for and

soundness of the 2022 reinstatement decision."