Any way you cut it, Barack Obama wins. The Supreme Court on Tuesday placed a stay on a key portion of the chief executive’s Clean Power Plan. At the request of 27 states and coal industry monoliths, the court in a 5-4 decision signaled that it had serious concerns about Obama’s plan to limit carbon emissions by legislating through regulating. The move was somewhat unusual because SCOTUS didn’t wait for a ruling by a lower court. Obama’s spokesman Josh Earnest responded to the temporary stay saying the EPA regulations are grounded in the nation’s other environmental laws and the administration will continue to implement the regs without directly defying the court. “Even while the litigation proceeds, EPA has indicated it will work with states that choose to continue plan development and will prepare the tools those states will need,” Earnest said. “At the same time, the administration will continue to take aggressive steps to make forward progress to reduce carbon emissions.” Under Obama’s plan, the carbon emission regulations wouldn’t go into effect until 2020, but states needed to submit plans on how they were going to comply with the regs relatively soon.

Obama had to have gambled the courts would check his Clean Power Plan, but he still gets political credit on the Left for trying to implement it. Heading into the presidential election year, Obama is showing his fellow ecofascists how important it is for them to elect Democrats so they can seat leftists on courts. It’s the same play as with immigration and Obama’s other executive actions.