Still, any federal regulations that Congess helps to create would probably preempt state laws regarding greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes and elsewhere, Nichols points out. They would tell “California and the others they can’t do anything they want to,” she says. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which supported the EPA in the Supreme Court case, “certainly believes there needs to be a comprehensive federal policy in place to reduce carbon dioxide, and we intend to work constructively with members of Congress on that issue,” says alliance spokesperson Charles Territo. The Supreme Court ruling may represent a milestone in the legal battle over climate change, but a long, hard road most likely remains ahead.

This article was originally published with the title Warming to Law.

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