A series of State and County Governments are rallying together the first to challenge the EPA’s authority, and among the leaders in the front is Reed Rubinstein of Dinsmore & Shohl’s Washington D.C. office, who is representing one of the counties in the suit.
The counties and states hope to take on the EPA in the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia to remove the EPA’s authority to override State ozone attainment designations, and to do that they will are holding in their hands two precedents: the tenth amendment, which awards States autonomous power, and the Supreme Court’s ruling in NFTB v. Sebeilius, which legislated that Congress could not “Compel the States to enact or administer a federal regulatory program.”
In answer to this, the governments are claiming that “EPA has the authority to override a State, declare nonattainment and then walk away from the mess of enforcement, compliance, and implementation that follows.” Should a state decide not to comply, the EPA can cost the state billions in federal highway funding, which the governments in this case say “crossed the line distinguishing encouragement from coercion.”
Rubinstein specifically will be representing Wise County, Texas. He is part of the Dinsmore tradition of austere legal services for over a century, offered in 13 cities, including in Ohio, Kentucky, and Washington D.C., with 475 attorneys.