Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert was ready for this.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan was testifying for the House Oversight Committee, and Lauren Boebert had done her homework.
She had definitely read the Loper ruling, the one where the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding doctrine of “Chevron deference,” which previously explained when and how government agencies (like the EPA) should be granted the deference to interpret ambiguous or unclear laws that apply to them, and even to create rules in according with their interpretations of the law. The idea of the correct and smart doctrine was that agencies (like the EPA) are full of people with the kinds of expertise needed to make such decisions, unlike the Courts, and unlike Congress.
That’s what the illegitimate partisan hack Supreme Court just overruled, in its latest supremely stupid ruling.
Conservatives hate Chevron deference, because it implies that agencies like the EPA, with its woke scientists, might actually be the experts, just because of all their snotty education and expertise. Conservatives prefer the law interpreters to be big business and ignorant white Republican ideologue dipshits, just like Jesus wrote to the founding fathers.
Which brings us back to Lauren Boebert.
She read that Loper ruling, every word.
Or maybe she skimmed it.
Or maybe … oh fuck, maybe she read the playbill for Beetlejuice.
OK maybe she skimmed the playbill for Beetlejuice.
OK maybe more like the playbill for Beetlejuice fell out of her hands onto the floor under her chair, for some reason.
Point is, Lauren Boebert was ready for the EPA administrator, this guy!
Please enjoy this video of Lauren Boebert being DEFINITELY PRETTY SURE that the Supreme Court just ruled that every rule the EPA has ever made is unconstitutional, EPA Administrator Michael Regan trying not to laugh at her, and Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman having too much fun fact-checking the moron at the end of the clip.
Boebert: “YOUR rogue bureaucrats that have enacted these UNCONSTITUTIONAL regulations, are you going to REPEAL them? Are you going to continue to implement them, or are you going to stop altogether, since it’s been OVERTURNED?”
She had no idea what regulations she’s talking about, or what the Supreme Court overturned.
So Regan asked: “Do you understand the ruling?”
And Boebert replied: “Do YOU understand the ruling of the Supreme Court?”
Bless her heart.
Regan tried to explain that the Supreme Court hadn’t overturned all the rules his agency ever made, or said they couldn’t make rules. He said his agency would do its work while adhering to the ruling.
Boebert: “So you’re going to UNCONSTITUTIONALLY continue with these RULE MAKINGS in the EPA!”
Boebert: “Which RULE MAKINGS are you going to roll back?”
Boebert: “Which ones are you going to REPEAL?”
“The Supreme Court didn’t tell us to repeal anything,” Regan gently tried to explain.
“They have been DEEMED UNCONSTITUTIONAL,” said Boebert, who still had no idea what she meant by “they.”
At that point, Michael Regan did indeed laugh at Lauren Boebert.
The end of the clip, again, is Dan Goldman and Michael Regan having a conversation to clarify exactly what Loper did, in order to “clarify a few things for my colleague from Colorado.”
“The Loper Bright ruling, as you know, said that the courts should not defer to agency rule-making if a statute is ambiguous, and instead the courts get to determine […] what the statute means. Is that your understanding as well?”
“Absolutely,” said Michael Regan, who then laughed at Lauren Boebert again, because she is so stupid.
“So that would not require any regulations to be reversed or overturned. Correct?”
“Correct.”
And now everybody understands Loper and Chevron deference, except Lauren Boebert, who will finish this day as much of a dumbass as she was when she came into it.
OPEN THREAD.
[video via Acyn]
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Here's a nice thing. I ate a BLT for dinner. I wasn't sure if I would be able to eat it when I was makin' the bacon. Ever since the end of my dental adventure/nightmare/disappointment I've been learning to eat again. This is the mouth I have, it's not getting better so I needed to adapt. I can't feel the roof of my mouth because of my upper plate covering it. This caused a serious issue I was having without realizing it, I could not tell when food was chewed enough to be swallowed. It is not something you normally think about, you just do it. I had a few too many choking episodes and was fearful of trying to eat much of anything that wasn't soft and mushy. Recently, something finally just clicked and my brain figured out how to do that in a new way. I realized it when I could eat salad, it was eye opening. A sudden dawning of the thought, oh shit this is how swallowing works! I was ready to start trying foods I had given up on ever eating again. Some things are just impossible because no bottom teeth! But much more is possible now.
Back to the BLT. My first bite, I was a bit too over confidant and literally bit off more than I could chew. I choked. But I was not giving up. I cut up the sandwich into quarters and took small bites. Success! It was delicious. Next thing to try: a bagel. I think if cut it up in small pieces I can do it. I miss my NY bagels, an onion bagel with olive cream cheese or a salt bagel with scallion cream cheese. Mmmm. Soon.
Open Thread Chat July 10. Keep thinking cold thoughts. Continuing with the winter theme this week. A solitary bird sits amidst the wind blown snow in Fort Tryon Park, Washington Heights, NYC.
https://substack.com/chat/1783367/post/7d2038a6-81cb-4c4e-9741-59177c358b13
For those who cannot access Chat: https://substack.com/profile/155618292-ziggywiggy/note/c-61573705?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc