California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s administration over climate policy. It centers on the administration’s repeal of a foundational environmental protection. Newsom and state officials are calling this move unlawful and dangerous.
Gavin Newsom announces lawsuit challenging Trump administration
Gavin Newsom confirmed that California will file a lawsuit immediately after the Trump administration rescinds the U.S. EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding. This finding, established during the George W. Bush era, formally recognized that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. It has served as the legal bedrock for federal climate regulations for over fifteen years.
“This is what corruption looks like,” Newsom stated. He framed the repeal as an illegal act of corruption, alleging it was done to benefit political allies in the oil and gas industry. “Donald Trump is breaking the laws that protect Americans from climate pollution—all to enrich his Big Oil and his wealthy polluting allies,” Gavin Newsom said. “No one is above the law in this country. Not even the president. We’ll fight this lawlessness in court.”
The lawsuit, led by Attorney General Rob Bonta, argues that the repeal directly defies the Clean Air Act and a landmark 2007 Supreme Court ruling. It affirmed the EPA’s authority and responsibility to regulate greenhouse gases.
“With the unlawful rescission of the Endangerment Finding, President Trump and his EPA have abandoned their most important mission: protecting the health and welfare of the American people,” Bonta said. He emphasized that the science linking emissions to climate disasters such as wildfires and floods is well established. “The president can’t keep his head in the sand—climate change is real and decades of settled science warned us this was coming,” he added. “This unlawful rescission is not about cutting ‘red tape.’ The president is choosing Big Oil profits over our health.”
The state argues that abandoning the scientific finding will lead to more deadly wildfires, extreme heat fatalities, and climate-driven floods.
