Attracting much less news coverage, however, is a decision of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals out yesterday that rejected a proposed Department of Energy “efficiency” regulation of commercial boilers. This may not sound exciting, and to be precise this is a rule-making that stretches back to the Trump years, but suffice it to say this rule-making would serve as a precursor and platform for the proposed rules to ban gas stoves, which is high on the list of the climate cultists in the Biden Administration.

The court’s opinion is dense and highly technical, but the bottom line is that the court made a rare finding that the proposed rule was “arbitrary and capricious,” and relied on unsubstantiated models and made-up data, which the DoE refused to back up when challenged earlier in the rule-making process and district court trial. The court essentially said—”Sorry, we’re not deferring to your self-serving claims any more.”

[This is yet another example of the pattern this court has taken the last two years regarding deference. They show significant deference to acts of Congress, but far less to executive-branch regulation, especially when it comes to expanding jurisdiction and authority. Next term the court will tackle the Chevron doctrine directly with an eye to overturning it, but in a sense they have already begun to act as though it is seriously limited or entirely revoked. And that’s great news for proper constitutional self-governance, although I suspect the three liberals won’t see it that way. The next time this court takes up a DACA case may give them fits. — Ed]