December 16, 2025 — A new slate of environmental rollbacks from the Trump administration are poised to serve as early tests of a recent Supreme Court ruling that limited federal agencies’ power to defend their rules against legal attack.
Over the last few weeks, EPA and the Interior Department have floated rescissions of protections for federal waters, vulnerable species and climate change.
Each proposal presents a dramatic change in position from earlier regulations, and in the absence of Chevron deference — which gave agencies the benefit of the doubt when statutes are unclear — the Trump administration will have to make the case that its approach is the best interpretation of federal law.