Brooks: Congressional Gridlock ‘Undermines’ Idea that Court Should Push Back on Agency Overreach

On Friday’s broadcast of “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks reacted to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the regulatory authority of the EPA by stating that he believes there’s a “sound principle” that as much policy as possible should be decided in elected legislatures, not unelected bureaucrats, but the “broken Congress” undercuts the idea “that the court should be pushing back at overreach by agencies.” Because if an issue is “not going to be settled in an agency, it’s probably not going to be settled at all, and that’s especially true for climate change.”

Brooks stated, “I have a lot of sympathy in theory for the idea that as much as possible should be decided in legislatures and not by unelected representatives. The problem for us right now is that we have a broken Congress. And so, if it’s not going to be settled in an agency, it’s probably not going to be settled at all, and that’s especially true for climate change. And so, I’m afraid our political dysfunction sort of undermines what I think is a very sound principle, that the court should be pushing back at overreach by agencies.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett