In the last few years, the Supreme Court has struck down significant EPA air and water protections and eliminated one of the agency’s most powerful tools of legal defense. On Monday, the justices took up another set of cases that could undercut the nation’s top environmental regulator by opening the door to industry groups and Republican-led states seeking to challenge certain EPA rules in more favorable courts.

The Supreme Court will take up a series of cases to determine which federal courts can take on cases related to certain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions, it said Monday. The cases stem from two seemingly separate issues: whether Oklahoma and Utah need to come up with better plans to fight smog and whether