(p. A19) LAURENCE H. TRIBE, the liberal icon and legal scholar, has grabbed headlines in recent weeks for publicly attacking President Obama’s signature climate change initiative — the Clean Power Plan — which would regulate carbon emissions from power plants. He was retained as an independent expert by Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, and is representing it in a lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the plan.
Professor Tribe represented Al Gore in Bush v. Gore and taught the president constitutional law at Harvard (and later served in his administration). Now he is arguing passionately that Mr. Obama’s plan is unconstitutional, using language more at home on Twitter and the Fox News ticker than in a courtroom.
In a House of Representatives hearing last week, he compared the plan, which would most likely lead to the closing of many old coal-fired power plants, to “burning the Constitution.”
For the full commentary, see:
RICHARD L. REVESZ. “An Obama Friend Turns Foe on Coal.” The New York Times (Thurs., MARCH 26, 2015): A19.