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One admin's DOJ does not have to defend the previous admin...
A report prepared last year by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) concluded that in nearly a dozen recent environmental cases, the Department of Justice did not appeal adverse court rulings, switched positions mid-case or agreed to an "anti-environmental settlement" with industry plaintiffs. "The reason for this is the administration does not feel bound by the constraints of the laws in their agency actions," said Greg Wetstone of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on Schumer's report. But Rey said that government attorneys are doing the best they can to keep up with the legal challenges. "The numbers will probably show you that we defended more of these rule makings that emanated from the Clinton administration than the Clinton administration defended" from the administration of former president George H.W. Bush, he said.
