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The U.S. Supreme Court delivered another blow to federal rules on Thursday by putting the Environmental Protection Agency’s “good neighbor” strategy, which fights air pollution, on pause while legal challenges are pending.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices rejected the claims made by the Democratic-controlled states and the Biden administration that the plan was reducing air pollution and saving lives in the 11 states that it was being implemented and that the high court’s intervention was unnecessary.

“The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. It will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states,” the Associated Press reported.

With a conservative 6-3 majority, the Supreme Court has been progressively limiting the authority of government agencies, such as the EPA, in recent years. The justices have limited the EPA’s ability to combat air and water pollution.

A significant ruling from 2022 restricted the EPA’s ability to control carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming. Additionally, the court rejected a vaccine requirement and halted President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel student loans.

“The court is currently weighing whether to overturn its 40-year-old Chevron decision, which has been the basis for upholding a wide range of regulations on public health, workplace safety and consumer protections,” the AP added in its report.

The Supreme Court made headlines recently when the justices turned down a challenge to Texas voting rules that let seniors automatically vote by mail but not younger people.

Older voters can ask for an absentee ballot for any reason in Texas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. In other states, older voters can only do this in certain situations.

Just as it rejected a similar challenge to Indiana’s voting laws in 2021, the court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from three Texas voters. Additionally, it twice declined to hear earlier versions of the Texas lawsuit that the Texas Democratic Party had filed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The challengers argued that the 26th Amendment forbids age-based discrimination, which is what the unequal treatment of voters amounts to.

Ratified in 1971 to lower the voting age to 18, the amendment says the right to vote “shall not be denied or abridged … on account of age.”

“Whatever voting rights a state grants to people aged 65 and over, it must also grant to people under 65,” the Texas voters told the Supreme Court in their unsuccessful appeal.

They wanted the court to reverse an appeals court’s decision that Texas’ rules are legal since making it easier for some people to vote doesn’t make it harder for others.

Also, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans said that the right to vote did not include the right to vote by mail when the 26th Amendment was made law.

Most states either mail ballots to all voters or let any resident ask for an absentee ballot.

Yet, Texas said it has taken a different approach to safeguarding the integrity of voting. It also acknowledges that older voters may have limited mobility or other issues that make it more difficult for them to vote in person.

Anyone could ask for a mail-in ballot, but the state said that would make voter fraud more likely.

The 2022 midterm elections saw about one-third of voters send in their ballots.

The voters who challenged Texas’ voting rules cited numerous barriers young voters face when trying to vote in person, including lack of transportation, long lines, difficulty finding or accessing polling places, and limited time off from work.

Mail-in voting has been a major topic going into November’s presidential election, with several key rulings coming down in courts across the country.

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