Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson berated her colleagues Friday for a ruling she claimed gave the impression that the Court was "overly sympathetic to corporate interests," The Daily Beast reported.
Jackson's takedown came after the conservative court voted 7-2 in favor of "allowing fuel producers to challenge California’s heightened emissions limits."
California set stricter standards for emissions than the federal government laid out in the Clean Air Act, the article stated. And, in 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) moved toward phasing out the sale of gas-powered cars "in favor of zero-emission vehicles statewide by 2035."
The Supreme Court ruling now allows fossil fuel companies to challenge the California emissions law that Donald Trump called a “disaster for this country," according to the report.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Jackson in the dissent.
“This case gives fodder to the unfortunate perception that moneyed interests enjoy an easier road to relief in this Court than ordinary citizens,” Jackson wrote. “I worry that the fuel industry’s gain comes at a reputational cost for this Court, which is already viewed by many as being overly sympathetic to corporate interests.”
Jackson said she did not doubt the ruling would "aid future attempts by the fuel industry to attack the Clean Air Act.”
The Daily Beast's Paula Rodriguez wrote that the case "marks the latest of several to garner accusations that the conservative-majority court favors corporate interests." In 2024, the court overturned a 1984 decision known as the Chevron Defense, which also concerned the Clean Air Act. The court’s new ruling undid a policy that gave federal agencies precedence over courts in regulating their respective industries, earning praise from conservatives and condemnation from environmental activists."
Jackson's dissent continued, "Over time, such selectivity begets judicial overreach and erodes public trust in the impartiality of judicial decision making. Today’s ruling runs the risk of setting us down that path.”