It’s “a blow to climate change activists,” CBS News helpfully explains in its headline. According to federal judge Terry Doughty, it’s a blow for the rule of law. Doughty issued a restraining order blocking Joe Biden’s executive order suspending the issuance of gas and oil leases, an order that applies nationwide, ruling that Biden failed to follow the law in imposing this policy.

The problem is not just the rule of law, Doughty ruled, but also the lack of any rational basis for the decision:

The Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal land and water was blocked Tuesday by a federal judge in Louisiana who ordered that plans continue for lease sales that were delayed for the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska waters “and all eligible onshore properties.”

The decision is a blow to President Biden’s efforts to rapidly transition the nation away from fossil fuels and thereby stave off the worst effects of climate change, including catastrophic droughts, floods and wildfires.

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed in March by Louisiana Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry and officials in 12 other states. Doughty said his ruling applies nationwide. It grants a preliminary injunction – technically a halt to the suspension pending further arguments on the merits of the case.

“The omission of any rational explanation in cancelling the lease sales, and in enacting the Pause, results in this Court ruling that Plaintiff States also have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of this claim,” he wrote.

Twelve states had joined Louisiana in challenging Biden’s EO. Doughty ruled that they had “reliance interests” on federal law that could run into billions of dollars of lost revenue for their economies. Presidents can’t just arbitrarily upend legal access to public lands, regardless of the purpose, especially given the stakes involved, Doughty ruled:

Doughty said his order applies “nationwide.”

“Millions and possibly billions of dollars are at stake,” Doughty wrote in a 44-page memorandum accompanying the injunction. “Local government funding, jobs for Plaintiff State workers, and funds for the restoration of Louisiana’s Coastline are at stake. Plaintiff States have a reliance interest in the proceeds derived from offshore and on land oil and gas lease sales.”

An Interior Department spokesperson responded to the injunction late Tuesday by saying the administration would keep working on the interim report and the recommendations on how to improve use of public lands and waters to create jobs and “build a just and equitable energy future.”

“We are reviewing the judge’s opinion and will comply with the decision,” the department said, without specifying any plans to appeal the injunction.

It’s probably a waste of time to appeal it. The Interior Department has all but finished a report that is expected to serve as justification for Biden’s fossil-fuel policies anyway, which would at least provide the “rational basis” which Doughty demanded in this case. At that point, Biden and his team would probably withdraw the EO and replace it with another, or perhaps take the longer but more bulletproof path of rulemaking instead. That requires more time and effort, but courts are much less likely to enjoin the results of that process than with knee-jerk EOs.

Of course, bureaucrats love to waste time, so perhaps an appeal will be forthcoming. The Fifth Circuit isn’t unusually friendly to progressive EOs, however, and it’s a cinch that the current Supreme Court isn’t going to bless executive action like this.

For the moment, then, it appears that American energy production can continue at its previous pace. That might impact futures prices and give consumers a small break at the pumps this summer. The overall trajectory for the next four years won’t change much with this decision, however. Elections have consequences, and Biden’s open hostility to American oil and gas production will eventually find its way into policies that will increase prices — and enrich petro-states like Russia and Iran as a consequence.