Yahoo News Supreme Court Halts Obama Climate Change Plan
The US Supreme Court has blocked federal regulations to curb carbon emissions - delivering a significant blow to Barack Obama's strategy to combat climate change.
The 5-4 vote granted a request from 27 states and various business groups to halt the President's Clean Power Plan.
The court's five conservative justices all voted to block the regulations, meaning they will not be in effect while litigation continues over whether their legality.
The plan called for a one-third reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from US power plants by 2030.
The Obama administration hailed the regulations as necessary to stave off the worst predicted impacts of climate change.
It is the main tool for the US to meet the emissions reduction target it pledged at UN climate talks in Paris in December.
Opponents called it "an unprecedented power grab".
The coalition of 27 mostly Republican-led states filed legal challenges in October to halt the plan.
A US appeals court in Washington turned away a bid to have the regulations blocked last month.
The appeals court will hear oral arguments on 2 June before deciding whether the regulations are lawful.
