If confirmed, he will inherit a department that critics, including Biden, say has curtailed prosecution of polluters under President Trump. The former vice president campaigned on increasing enforcement of Clean Air Act violations and other laws.
Biden’s choice of Garland, announced Wednesday, was overshadowed by the attacks on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Garland often sides with stronger environmental regulations.
Garland has heard his fair share of cases between industry and environmentalists, having served for more than two decades on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The court has a heavy caseload of Clean Air Act and other environmental work.
Early in his court tenure, Garland voted to reconsider a case invalidating the Environmental Protection Agency’s program for curbing pollution from ozone and particulate matter, both linked to lung disease and other illnesses. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which upheld the agency’s authority to regulate the pollutants.
Garland also wrote an opinion upholding the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act and ruled in favor of the Sierra Club when it challenged the George W. Bush administration’s decision to defer enforcing ozone standards in the Washington area.
As the Biden administration restores safeguards and cuts emissions, Garland also will make sure the Environmental Protection Agency and other offices dot their i’s and cross their t’s when shifting policies, according to Columbia Law School professor Michael Gerrard.
Over the past four years, judges have repeatedly rebuked the Trump administration officials for failing to follow the rules for writing regulations under the Administrative Procedure Act. Gerrard doesn’t expect the same sloppiness under Biden.
Biden wants to beef up prosecution of polluters.
One of the first items on his campaign plan for confronting the disproportionate influence pollution has on poor and minority communities is to establish a new Environmental and Climate Justice Division in the Justice Department and to press for legislation to hold corporate executives personally accountable for environmental degradation.
Since winning the election, Biden has not yet named anyone to run the new division. Nor has he picked the head of the agency’s existing Environment and Natural Resources Division.