Some Chicago Boyz know each other from student days at the University of Chicago. Others are Chicago boys in spirit. The blog name is also intended as a good-humored gesture of admiration for distinguished Chicago School economists and fellow travelers.
We need to clean this place up. The EPA’s scandalous December
Will anyone ever go to jail for any of these things? Will anyone even be charged? If we assume not, why?
And for a further example: PLF and the Sacketts: an important win at the Supreme Court
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Riders that would have put a moratorium on the EPA’s swamp-grab were struck down in the final version of the recent omnibus bill, and the bill left the agency fully funded.
The Sackett case is fascinating. The EPA actually argued, in court, that citizens had no right to challenge their decisions in court. And the lower courts upheld that position, if you can believe that. While this was happening, not just to the Sacketts but others as well, Congress made no attempt to limit the EPA’s authority or clarify the Clean Water Act. None. No one was going to get their palms greased, so they couldn’t be bothered. It was the privately funded Pacific Legal Foundation that fought the EPA all the way to the Supreme Court, and won the right, at least, for their rulings to be challenged in court. I am astounded by every part of that story.
And to think Nixon signed the EPA into law.
Yet another example of good intentions gone awry.
Much of the current abuse is due to the regime in power in Washington. The original purpose of the EPA and Clean Air Act was to improve the atmosphere and reduce pollution.
When these purposes are accomplished, the agency does not declare victory and go hime. It finds new worlds to conquer.
Did the Salk Vaccine end the March of Dimes ? No. The March of Dimes, once Polio was not a problem, found a new cause; birth defects. That was promising as there seems small chance of a cure for birth defects.
The EPA is in search of new cases but, as is usual with bureaucracies, it is incompetent. and incapable of doing valuable work.
A 50% cut in its annual budget would do wonders to focus its efforts on real issues, if there are any, but budget cuts don’t happen in our brave new world.
On top of everything else, the EPA told the Supreme Court and Sen Inhoffe to pound sand. https://youtu.be/DcOyWbN2idE
Again, will any of these people be prosecuted for civil right violations?
Without cutting a dime from any budget, the EPA could be largely tamed, and quickly. The administrative law structure just needs to be transferred to the judiciary. No change in money. That goes over to the judiciary too. The normal protests of heartless conservatives who want to sabotage government would be inoperative as the same funds would be spent. Judges would have lines of accountability separate from the people going before them on a regular basis seeking their decisions.
What’s not to like, unless administrative law is just a way to say rogue government without causing a revolution.
TMLutas, could you explain that further, I’m not following the argument.
Paul Craig Roberts references:
http://www.tsln.com/news/17302049-113/story.html
about a ranching family (Hamond) that got in trouble with the EPA.
One should remember that the EPA speaks for God and therefore it is infallible. When fascists take over America, the EPA will be their model for all government agencies. The EPA staff are true Fascists and each EPA regulator has his or her own ax provided by the Agency.
In the Shawshank Redemption a needlepoint hangs in the warden’s office that reads, His Judgement Cometh, and that Right Soon…
I suspect that’s how some of the ideologues at the EPA see themselves. The others are just corrupt tools.
Michael Hiteshaw – A great deal of the problem is that the EPA is its own judge as well as the prosecution. Supposedly, they are fair, however the EPA does not seem to fare as well in its legal endeavors when cases eventually get in front of an article III judge so perhaps not. Propose the moving of those judges to the judiciary and you will see a great cry rise up from the bureaucracy, a howl of anguish which will surprise the nation. You see ALJs are very convenient and quick. They have the full array of rubber stamps at the ready. Article III judges are more inclined to be, well, judicious.
On the face of it, transferring the money from the executive to the judiciary along with the personnel should have no effect on justice. But since the ALJ courts are not actually dispensing justice that meets normal american standards it would be helpful to expose that. This move would do the trick.