Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc.

Summary

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, held that the Clean Air Act prohibits consideration of implementation costs when setting primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards, that § 109(b)(1) satisfies the constitutional nondelegation requirement, that the court of appeals had jurisdiction to review EPA's ozone implementation policy, and that the policy was unreasonable because it effectively nullified applicable statutory restrictions. The Court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. Justice Thomas concurred separately, accepting the result under existing precedent while questioning whether the intelligible-principle test adequately prevents delegations of legislative power. Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Souter, concurred in part and in the judgment, arguing that the statute constitutionally delegates legislative power rather than conferring authority that is nonlegislative. Justice Breyer concurred in part and in the judgment, relying more heavily on legislative history and statutory structure to exclude implementation costs and emphasizing EPA's discretion to assess contextual and comparative health risks.