Donald J. Trump’s administration announced a new lawsuit against the state of California last week.
On Thursday the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) announced a suit against California on behalf of Department of Transportation and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The suit is claiming the state is still illegally attempting to implement greenhouse gas emission regulations on passenger cars that are now prohibited by federal law.
According to the Justice Department states the case challenges the state’s regulations as preempted under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which makes NHTSA the exclusive regulator of fuel economy in the United States. It seeks a ruling to declare all zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandates produced by California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) are unlawful and cannot be implemented after the state’s Advanced Clean Cars II waiver — first approved in 2022 — was revoked by the EPA in 2025.
[RELATED: EPA tosses out foundation of GHG emission regs]
A similar lawsuit was filed by truck makers and joined by the DOJ in 2025 over the state’s medium- and heavy-duty truck ZEV regulations.
“Oppressive, expensive electric vehicle mandates drive up costs for American consumers and violate federal law. California is using unlawful policies from the last administration to create exorbitant costs for our citizens,” says U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
“This lawsuit continues ENRD’s war on regulatory overreach by California that is set on undermining the national market for motor vehicles through unlawful state policies,” adds Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s ENRD division. “The state vehicle standards we are challenging today are preempted by federal law, just like the standards that were blocked by a court in our challenge to California’s so-called Clean Truck Partnership.”
The full lawsuit can be found HERE.
