The Left’s war on energy suffered a big and well-deserved setback Tuesday as the Fifth Circuit of Appeals just stomped all over punitive energy efficiency standards for stoves and cooktops that the Biden administration wanted to cram down our throats.
Like most of their green energy nonsense, the proposals would have done little to affect the climate; instead, they would have done what they were designed to: punish the American people. For the time being at least, we can kiss them goodbye:
🚨 The Fifth Circuit has set aside Biden-era energy efficiency standards for stoves and cooktops, ruling that the Energy Department illegally refused to withdraw the rule after states raised objections requiring ordinary notice-and-comment rulemaking. pic.twitter.com/cOhK2JjOmU
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) August 11, 2026
Team Biden tried to fast-track the regulations and refused to allow a standard notice-and-comment period. Instead, they attempted an end-around and issued a “Direct Final Rule” (DFR), which sounds pretty darn authoritarian and is usually reserved for non-controversial decisions. The IQ-challenged bunch at Biden’s Department of Energy apparently thought limiting our options in the kitchen would be no big deal to the public.
They were wrong:
In a 3-0 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of seven Republican-led states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas and Utah — that challenged the Department of Energy's "direct final rule" for consumer-grade stoves and ovens…
The August 2024 rule was intended to limit how much energy consumers use in kitchen appliances, and to ban an older technology known as linear power supplies.
Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham said the Energy Department should not have fast-tracked the rule, knowing that numerous states opposed a 2023 attempt to enact similar efficiency standards.
Although the government could still revisit the onerous regulations and try again, that’s not likely to happen since Trump is now the sheriff and he doesn’t actually think energy is a boogeyman. Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced in July he’s not interested in edicts that “raise costs and disrupt consumer choice."
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I love what Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham had to say in the opinion:
He… dismissed the rule as part of a push by former President Joe Biden’s administration to make home appliances “more expensive and less useful...”
Oldham, a Trump appointee, said the Energy Department relied on support for its proposed rule from several industry groups, “environmental activists,” California, Massachusetts and New York.
The judge said “it cannot be contended with a straight face” that those Democratic-led states fairly represented the entire country.
Bwaa ha! You tell ‘em, Judge. This had nothing to do with saving the world; it was just a raw exercise of power by Biden and Co. But Oldham had more slapping down to do:
He also said the department failed to consider whether making appliances more technologically complex in the name of efficiency would reduce reliability or increase associated costs.
“The previous administration’s gas-stove measures were among its most controversial energy proposals,” Oldham wrote. “The idea that all that controversy could be elided using the DFR—a mechanism designed for consensus rulemaking—is untenable.”
He also dropped this gem:
“Going from dead to alive is the great promise of Holy Scripture, but the Department cites no authority for its relevance to administrative law.” 😜 pic.twitter.com/OvtIYYSXgC
— Michel (@jmichelt) August 11, 2026
The proposed rules themselves were such gobbledygook that they’re almost impossible to understand, but they contained all sorts of useless edicts like banning pilot lights for certain appliances. The long-term goal, as we all know, was almost assuredly to ban gas stoves altogether, even though natural gas is an efficient and clean energy source.
Judge Oldham accused the Biden administration of trying to “dodge” controversy, said DOE’s interpretation made a “mindless hash” of Congress’s scheme, and called its concession that CA, MA, and NY do not fairly represent the states “the understatement of the day.”
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) August 11, 2026
Biden and his handlers were the source of so many bad things in America during his one failed term, but his efforts to kneecap our own energy supplies and self-sufficiency were among the worst, and they were all made in the name of unproven science that always seemed far more political than beneficial.
Meanwhile, we have seen so many boneheaded decisions from activist judges since Trump regained the Oval Office, but Judge Andrew Oldham is my new hero. He didn’t just set forth the court's logical decision, but he also embarrassed the woke zealots of the Jill and Joe Biden presidency.
“More expensive and less useful.” That’s going to be my new motto when describing Democrats.
Editor’s Note: Democrats have been waging war on our energy production for decades.
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