The Supreme Court ruled on a major climate case that curbed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) options for limiting greenhouse gases from existing power plants. The White House had argued the Clean Air Act gives the EPA broad powers but a coalition of states and coal companies sued, saying the Clean Air Act gave the government authority only to restrict pollution from specific coal-fired plants, not to require utilities to shift from coal toward renewable energy sources.

In the ruling by the court on West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the justices in a 6-3 decision ruled the agency was overstepping its power.