Judiciary thwarts Biden's climate policy
The US Supreme Court has limited the Biden administration's powers to implement policies against climate change. It ruled that Congress rather than the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to set CO2 standards for coal-fired power plants. Commentators see this as an ominous development.
Judges imposing Republicans' agenda
SRF correspondent Teresa Delgado sees the Supreme Court on an ominous mission:
“The ruling has enormous environmental implications. It is now very unllikely that Joe Biden will be able to push through the fight against climate change - one of his key objectives. ... In recent years the Republicans have very deliberately filled the Supreme Court justice posts with conservative to far-right judges. Now that these judges are in the majority, little by little they are imposing the Republicans' political agenda.”
Whatever happened to the separation of powers?
Avvenire fears for democracy:
“The political system of checks and balances, the democracy that may briefly go off track but always has the necessary antibodies (for example the independent press in the Watergate scandal), the country that can afford to compile freedom rankings for the whole world is entering a worrying phase of uncontrollable ideological conflicts, social turbulence and institutional instability. ... When trust in representative mechanisms, common procedural rules and institutions has been lost it's hard to halt a populist and illiberal trend which is also fuelled by the prevalence of emotional and unreflective aspects that is typical of the era of social media.”