Amy Coney Barrett’s environmental track record is sparse — but “concerning”

Amy Coney Barrett, the staunch social conservative who was formerly Antonin Scalia’s favorite law clerk , is on track to become America’s next Supreme Court justice. Her nomination just eight days after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death prompted concern from Democrats — not only because of her anti-abortion views, but also because of what a Barrett nomination might mean for environmental policy. The prediction is that Barrett’s conservatism would tip the scales of justice rightward, opening up a Pandora’s box of climate hostility. A sixth conservative justice could pit the Supreme Court against regulatory efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, making it harder for federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to act aggressively on climate. A 6-3 conservative court majority could also make it more difficult for the court to take up judicial challenges to the Trump administration’s rules. Scary prospects, to be sure! But so far, these predictions are based on Barrett’s generally conservative inclination — we don’t know much about her views on climate and the environment. That’s partly because she has such little judicial experience to point to, having spent most of her career teaching law […]

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