Judge set to vaporize EPA bid to end California emissions standards

A federal judge signaled she's likely to block the EPA's attempt to void California's Clean Air Act waivers, which let the state set stricter vehicle emissions rules than the federal government. The agency's approach, laid out by DOJ lawyers, was to reclassify decades-old waiver approvals as new 'final rules' so they could be fast-tracked for repeal under the Congressional Review Act — a maneuver spelled out in Project 2025.

Judge Beryl Howell questioned whether any agency could just relabel old regulations as new ones to dodge normal legislative process, warning it would let agencies decide 'willy-nilly' what counts as a rule. DOJ countered that California sued in the wrong court and should instead wait for Congress to act before challenging anything.

The waiver dates to the 1970s smog crisis in Los Angeles and has survived a Trump-era revocation, a Biden-era reinstatement, a red-state lawsuit, a D.C. Circuit rejection of that lawsuit, and a Supreme Court denial — this is merely the latest attempt to kill it by different means.

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