Politics

Democrat AG Says ‘California Is Gonna Be California’ As He Readies Supreme Court Climate Fight

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California’s top lawyer is preparing for a likely Supreme Court fight over the Trump administration’s repeal of the finding behind federal climate rules.

Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on the Politico Energy podcast that he cannot guarantee a win at the Supreme Court, and he rejected the idea that the state’s climate rules clash with residents’ worries about the cost of living.

“But we are confident because we have the facts and the law on our side,” Bonta added on the podcast.

“California is gonna be California,” he said of the cost concerns. “I don’t think we’re out of touch. I think we lead.”

Fifty-four percent of likely California voters oppose the state’s plan to end sales of new gas-powered cars in 2035, a Politico poll conducted Sept. 8–14 found.

Democratic former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is running for governor, has questioned the 2035 target but says he believes the state can still meet it, according to Politico. Becerra was Bonta’s immediate predecessor as California’s Attorney General.

The EPA and Bonta’s office each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

Bonta faces Republican Michael Gates, a deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, in his November reelection race. The incumbent is heavily favored to win another term due to California’s strong Democratic lean. Bonta won 54.9% of the vote in the June 2 all-party primary to Gates’ 40.6%.

Bonta announced in January that he would seek reelection instead of running for governor. California sued the Trump administration 55 times in the president’s first year back in office, Spectrum News reported.

California co-led a coalition of 25 attorneys general that challenged the EPA’s repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on March 19.

The 2009 finding determined that greenhouse gases from cars and trucks add to pollution that threatens public health and welfare, and it was the EPA’s legal basis for limiting those emissions, according to Bonta’s office.

The repeal, which the EPA finalized in February, also ended every current and future federal limit on greenhouse gases from vehicles, the office noted.

An EPA spokesperson said in March that the agency had “carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation” of the finding, Spectrum News reported.

Bonta accused President Donald Trump of trying to hand the fossil fuel industry “giveaways time and time again.”

“Trump has been writing an ongoing love letter, or at least attempting to, to the fossil fuel industry,” he said.

California joined other states in lawsuits filed Sept. 22 challenging federal payments to offshore wind developers to give up their leases, Utility Dive reported.

The EPA declared in June that four of California’s vehicle emissions waivers were rules that Congress could overturn under the Congressional Review Act, Inside Climate News reported.

Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell blocked the move Sept. 2, and the agency has appealed to the D.C. Circuit.

The endangerment finding followed the Supreme Court’s 2007 ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that the Clean Air Act covers greenhouse gases as pollutants, Bonta’s office noted in March.

Chief Justice John Roberts dissented in that case, and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined him. All three are now part of the court’s conservative majority, Politico pointed out.

“There were fears that the U.S. Supreme Court was gonna do Trump’s bidding and never find for California, even if we had the facts and law on our side,” Bonta said on the podcast.

He pointed to Supreme Court wins for California on the state’s redistricting plan and on blocking federal deployment of National Guard troops.