California Sues to Keep Trump Out of Its Tailpipes

June 23, 2026

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by Alex Guillén (Politico Pro) The administration is hoping to kill older Golden State rules for cars and trucks, as well as electrification standards for lawn equipment. -- California on Monday (June 22, 2026) launched a legal challenge over EPA's recent move to tee up four of its Clean Air Act waivers for nullification.

The suit again heightens the already sky-high tension between the deep blue state and the Trump administration.

“While President Trump may be content to pollute our air-threatened vulnerable communities and kick workers to the curb, California is not,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat. “We refuse to allow Trump and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to claw us back into the smog.”

EPA earlier this month formally submitted four waivers issued as far back as the early Obama administration to Congress.

That starts the clock for the Republican majorities to wield the Congressional Review Act against them, since prior administrations did not consider such waivers to be rules covered by the CRA. Senate Republicans last year circumvented the parliamentarian after she said waivers were not subject to the CRA. READ MORE

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EPA Fulfills Statutory Obligation by Transmitting Four California Waiver Rules to Congress (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
California files lawsuit against EPA over vehicle emissions waivers (CBT News)
California sues EPA over move that could strip state of key vehicle emissions waivers (Local News Matters/Bay City News)
California sues US EPA over sending emissions rules to Congress for potential reversal (Reuters)
California sues Trump administration over EPA review of emissions waivers (ABC 10)
California sues EPA over bid to revoke waivers for stricter emission standards (Courthouse News Service)

Excerpt from CBT News: State officials argue the EPA illegally sent California’s emissions waivers to Congress for potential repeal, escalating a broader fight over EV mandates and emissions standards.

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The dispute could affect future EV sales requirements and vehicle product strategies in California and other states that follow its standards.
Regulatory uncertainty continues to complicate long-term inventory, compliance and investment planning for the auto industry.

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State officials said the EPA violated federal law when it sent four Clean Air Act waivers to Congress earlier this month. Those waivers, issued under prior Democratic administrations, allow California to enforce stricter vehicle emissions standards than federal rules.

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the EPA attempted to improperly reclassify long-standing waivers as rules subject to congressional review, according to a statement from the California Department of Justice. He argued the agency effectively tried to “wave a magic wand” and convert approvals into actions eligible for repeal.

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California’s current emissions framework, approved in 2022 under the Biden administration, requires automakers to sell increasing numbers of electric vehicles and meet tighter tailpipe emissions limits. State officials argue those rules remain critical to reducing pollution and advancing clean transportation goals.

Congress previously moved to rescind California’s authority to phase out new gasoline-powered vehicle sales by 2035 after lobbying from Toyota, General Motors and other automakers. California has separately challenged that action in court, arguing federal lawmakers cannot revoke waiver authority through the review process used.

The case’s outcome could reshape how federal regulators and Congress oversee state-level emissions programs that have influenced national automotive standards for decades. READ MORE

Excerpt from Local News Matters/Bay City News: In the June 12 announcement, the EPA said the agency is committed to “promoting consumer choice and ensuring affordable vehicles for all Americans,” alleging that these waivers “impose costly vehicle emission requirements higher than federal standards” that are passed onto the consumer.

The EPA noted that California’s waivers under the Clean Air Act ripple nationally, giving their policies the “force of federal law,” in turn, supplanting the agency’s authority.

“California will continue to fight against the Trump Administration’s lawless overreach and vigorously defend our authority to protect the health and well-being of our communities and the environment.”
Attorney General Rob Bonta

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Bonta said that Congress established a system of preemption waivers over 60 years ago that allowed California to improve the state’s vehicle emissions program and according to the lawsuit, has been granted 75 distinct waivers, dating back to 1969.

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The Trump Administration has taken legal action against California’s Clean Air Act Waivers including a 2025 lawsuit against California’s Air Resource Board over alleged “unlawful emissions standards for trucks.”

In May of last year, Congress passed three Congressional Review Act resolution which were signed by President Trump, disapproving of California’s Electric Vehicle Mandate. READ MORE

Excerpt from Reuters: California won approval in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden's EPA for the state's current vehicle emissions rules.

California's rules require automakers to sell a rising number of electric vehicles and meet increasingly stringent ⁠limits on tailpipe emissions.

Those rules are much stricter than those imposed by the Trump administration, which plans to roll back federal fuel economy rules.

Trump signed legislation last year to overturn California’s rules that aim to phase out new gasoline-powered cars by ⁠2035. California contends the fuel savings for consumers from the rules far exceed the higher upfront costs of EVs. READ MORE

Excerpt from ABC 10: The EPA sees the issue differently. The agency says Congress should have the opportunity to review California's emissions policies and says it is focused on making sure vehicles remain affordable for consumers.

Rep. James Gallagher, a Republican from East Nicolaus, acknowledged California's landmark clean-air laws but said affordability should be a priority.

“These super regulations, if you will, hit us in the pocketbook, you know. They cost us in gas and fuel and, having to purchase more expensive vehicles,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher also questioned whether the regulations provide enough benefits to justify their costs.

“Are they more costly than they provide in benefit? And what are they doing to the everyday California consumer and the choices that they have?” Gallagher said. READ MORE

Excerpt from Courthouse News Service: The exception, known as the California waiver, was enacted in 1970s so the state could address smog over Los Angeles. It has since evolved to make the state a “laboratory of innovation” where automakers can test new technology.

When Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1967, California faced significant air quality and pollution problems that the federal emission standards were unlikely to address. However, at that time, California was the only state with its own vehicle emission standards and its regulations had helped craft federal law.

Taking both California’s unique situation and automobile manufacturers concerns about a patchwork system of emission standards across all 50 states, Congress created the California waiver directly in the Clean Air Act, balancing both issues.

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If the EPA’s reclassifications are ultimately upheld and the waivers can be considered rules subject to congressional review, the agency will have “eviscerated” the state’s right to contest further revocations, the attorney general says.

“No agency has the power to wave a magic wand and transform an action that was finalized as an adjudicatory order into a rule, and certainly not without a public process in which the agency acknowledges and explains its change in position,” Bonta said. “Yet, that is exactly what EPA has attempted to do here.”

Monday’s lawsuit is the latest case in Washington to center on the California waiver, with the D.C. Circuit rejecting a challenge brought by a coalition of 17 red states and fuel industry groups in April 2024.

The Trump administration revoked the exception in 2019 as part of its wide-reaching rollback of efforts to fight climate change. Then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the rule worked against the idea of federalism by allowing a single state dictate standards for the nation.

Former President Joe Biden reinstated the rule in March 2022.

Ohio — joined by Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and West Virginia — sued in May 2022. A group of fuel industry groups filed a similar challenge the same day, while automakers sided with the EPA in the case.

In September 2022, California’s powerful Air Resources Board passed a new set of regulations that essentially require all vehicles sold in the state to be either electric, hydrogen-fueled or at least plug-in hybrid by 2035. Soon after, 17 states adopted similar rules.

A three-judge panel, made of U.S. Circuit judges Robert Wilkins, J. Michelle Childs and Bradley Garcia — a Barack Obama appointee and two Joe Biden appointees, respectively — ruled unanimously in favor of the EPA.

In a per curiam opinion, they wrote that so long as California’s emission standards are at least as protective as federal regulations, the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to affirm them, unless they are deemed unnecessary or otherwise problematic.

“In other words, the federal regulations continue to act as the floor for emissions regulations, but California can seek to enact its own more stringent regulatory program above those federal requirements,” the panel wrote.

In December 2024, the Supreme Court rejected the states’ appeal and upheld the D.C. Circuit ruling. READ MORE