American trucking Ass'ns, Inc. v. EPA

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held the Environmental Protection Agency in violation of the long-defunct nondelegation doctrine for failing to limit its own discretion under Section 109 of the Clean Air Act-without striking down the Act itself The court thus transferred the requirement of limited delegation from Congress to regulatory agencies, effectively creating an entirely new agency limitation that has vast and long-lasting implications for administrative law and environmental protection. This new limitation purports to extend the traditional nondelegation doctrine, but it lacks the constitutional and philosophical foundations of the earlier principle, and vests substantial, unrestrained power in the judiciary.