Pushback on Federal Preemption

California sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday over the Bush administration's refusal to allow the nation's largest state to impose stricter greenhouse gas emission rules than those contained in the milquetoast energy bill signed by the president last month. More than a dozen states are supporting the suit.

California has always been a leader in environmental standards, and more than 60 requests for waivers from weak federal rules over the past four decades have been granted. Given that track record, it's not surprising that the EPA career staff warned the administration that its first ever denial would trigger a lawsuit, and the government would lose. It also faces the wrath of Congress, where Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) have launched investigations into a decision that, as Waxman put it last month, defies science and common sense.

This case is one more reminder about the extent to which President George W. Bush turned the world upside down during his disastrous eight years in office. There once was a time when the Republican Party believed in limited federal intervention in the economy and upheld states' rights. No more. This president abusively wields executive power to thwart state efforts to deal with significant environmental and social problems that the administration militantly refuses to confront. It has used the executive branch to trample on civil liberties, violate habeas corpus, sanction torture, and interfere with justice.

States have always been our laboratories of democracy, taking the lead when the federal government refuses to act. Republicans once championed that approach. It was the Democrats who used the strong arm of the national government to end the patchwork quilt of state economic regulations that bred inefficiency or lagged behind a high standard (raising the national minimum wage is a typical example). Democrats have also wielded federal power to override actions by states -- such as those of the Deep South during the 1960s -- that denied citizens their civil rights and liberties.

No doubt we'll see a re-reversal of these roles should the Democrats win the White House next year as well as maintain their control of Congress. Bush has taught everyone that federal preemption is a two-way street. It once was a tool to set high standards. This president has shown that it can also be used to drag the country into the gutter.