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Network for Public Health Law
Source and Scope of Public Health Legal Powers

State of Louisiana v. Biden

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Overview

State of Louisiana v. Biden (U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Mar. 16, 2022): The Fifth Circuit unanimously reinstated a Biden administration climate policy that had been blocked by a district court, holding that the ten southern states challenging the policy were unlikely to succeed against the government and that they lacked standing to challenge the policy because their claimed injury is only “hypothetical.” At issue is a set of standards for calculating the social costs of greenhouse gas emissions that administrative agencies must use in the cost-benefit analyses required for major regulatory decisions and actions. The challenging states claimed the additional cost estimates could increase their regulatory burdens, but the court reasoned that the estimates would realistically have little to no effect on states, calling their concerns merely “generalized grievances” that did not rise to the level of injury required to sue. Read the full decision here.

View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – April 15, 2022.

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