Today the Court issued a 5-4 order granting the requests to stay the Clean Power Plan. The order stays the plan pending both the disposition of the applicants’ petitions for review in the D.C. Circuit and disposition of the applicants’ petition for a writ of certiorari, if a writ is sought. If petitioners seek cert and the Court denies the petition, the order will terminate automatically. If the Court grants the cert petition, then the order will terminate when the Court enters its judgment.
Chief Justice Roberts, who referred the request to the entire Court, voted in favor of granting the application. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan would have denied the application. The order is brief and offers no indication as the Justices’ views on the merits. Even if the cases move at an expedited pace, the protracted nature of appellate litigation means that it will be some time before the public knows the fate of the Clean Power Plan.
