Amicus Brief of Law Scholars in California v. U.S.

This brief, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of administrative and constitutional law scholars as amici curiae, explains why EPA’s decisions on California’s applications for waivers of preemption under Clean Air Act section 209 are adjudications, not rules subject to Congress’s disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. The law scholars further argue that Congress’s reversals of prior approvals of waivers for California’s vehicle-emissions regulations violate separation-of-powers principles.

This resource was commissioned by or produced by staff of the Center for Applied Environmental Law and Policy before the organization rebranded as Ridgeline Center for Law and Policy in 2026.