Supremes Block Globaloney Suits, Side With Wal-Mart In Sex Discrimination Case, Slaps ACORN

The Supreme Court has had a pretty good morning. First they put a stop to environmental suits against power companies:

The Supreme Court has blocked a federal lawsuit by states and conservation groups trying to force cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The court said Monday that the authority to seek reductions in emissions rests with the Environmental Protection Agency, not the courts. The ruling was 8-0.

EPA says it will decide by next year whether to order utilities to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The lawsuit targeted the five largest emitters of carbon dioxide in the United States, four private companies and the federal Tennessee Valley Authority.

The Obama administration sided with the power companies in this case.

The only thing that concerns me about this is it will further empower the EPA to do pretty much what the lawsuits were trying to do - control carbon dioxide emissions.  The EPA has been wanting to impose a cap-and-trade like regime without congressional approval.

And in the Wal-Mart case:

The Supreme Court has ruled for Wal-Mart in its fight to block a massive sex discrimination lawsuit on behalf of women who work there.

The court ruled unanimously Monday that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cannot proceed as a class action, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million women, with Wal-Mart facing potentially billions of dollars in damages.

Now, the handful of women who brought the lawsuit may pursue their claims on their own, with much less money at stake and less pressure on Wal-Mart to settle.

Good luck with all that....

Note that both decisions were unanimous. It's going to be hard for the press and the activists to blame this on a "right-wing activist court".

ACORN also got a slap-down from the Supremes:

The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from ACORN, the activist group driven to ruin by scandal and financial woes, over being banned from getting federal funds.

The high court on Monday refused to review a federal court's decision to uphold Congress's ban on federal funds for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Congress cut off ACORN's federal funding last year in response to allegations the group engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement and violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

ACORN sued, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City upheld the action. The high court refused to hear its appeal.

Hey, Planned Parenthood, did you notice that last one? Any lawsuits you plan to file to protect your precious federal funding are doomed.