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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 27, 2023

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What’s different here, exactly?

In a legal case like this, there are several broad categories of questions that have to get answered. The first one relevant here is standing, in which the court considers whether or not it should consider the merits of the case in a later step. Standing here includes who, if anyone, was wronged. In particular, SCOTUS likes to reject cases on standing because it typically doesn't set precedent for future cases. Some are (wrongly IMO) trying to argue that no one was harmed by this decision. I don't like this idea because it suggests that certain subsidies are entirely beyond review.

If the court finds standing, it will consider the merits of the case: was this action allowed by the (rather vague) statutory text passed by Congress. There is plenty of case law allowing subsidies in many instances. The Executive here points to a few catch-all clauses to justify this action.

There are some limits in how much power Congress can grant to the Executive, but exactly where that limit is and how far the Executive can stretch the letter of the law is a legal question for the court that seems likely to fall to the partisan split.