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Bush Admin Wins NAFTA Case
Law, National Politics Comments (0)
This is actually a legacy case from the days of the Clinton Administration. The fight was over whether Mexican trucks could come into this country without first passing an environmental impact study. (No, I’m really not kidding.)
Excerpt from the story:
The Supreme Court removed the last legal roadblock to Mexican trucks rolling across U.S. roadways, siding with the Bush administration Monday in a long-running dispute with labor union officials, environmentalists and consumer advocates.
The fight, begun during the Clinton administration, had ground down to a last quarrel over whether a Transportation Department agency had to perform an air quality study. Opponents argued that Mexican trucks tend to be older and dirtier than American models.
Ruling on narrow procedural issues, the court’s unanimous decision said the president has authority to let the trucks in, and a federal agency responsible for truck safety has no say in the matter. Thus, the justices said, the agency was under no obligation to study environmental effects from opening the border, as a lower federal court had ordered.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “has no ability to countermand the president’s lifting of the moratorium or otherwise categorically to exclude Mexican motor carriers from operating within the United States,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court.
So there you have it.
MickC @ June 7, 2004