Judge Quashes EPA Civil Rights Regulations for Louisiana (1)

Louisiana successfully convinced a judge Thursday to put a statewide ban on certain civil rights protections, but the judge held off on a nationwide vacatur of the regulation.

The state of Louisiana sued the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice in May 2023, claiming that the application of non-direct impacts of discrimination in Title VI civil rights complaints—like cumulative pollution—is unlawful.

While Judge James D. Cain Jr. of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana agreed that “the unlawful disparate-impact regulations are illegal anywhere in the United States,” Louisiana’s “request is limited to a permanent injunction ...