That's Steven Pearlstein's characterization of the judiciary's attitude toward federal health and safety regulation in a column published today. Here's an excerpt discussing what Pearlstein views as a recent example:
Their latest salvo came just before Labor Day, when a divided
three-judge panel threw out rules requiring states to control the air
pollution that wafts over their borders into other states. These rules
were first ordered up by Congress back in 1970, have been more than 20
years in the making and had already been the subject of two challenges
before the D.C. Circuit. According to estimates by the
Environmental Protection Agency, these regulations would prevent between
13,000 and 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 non-fatal heart attacks,
19,000 hospital and emergency room visits and 1.8 million days of missed
work or school for each year. The projected annual compliance cost is
$2.4 billion, compared with the annual health benefits of anywhere from
$120 billion to $280 billion.
