Janice Rogers Brown is already proving her worth on the federal bench. Last week, she and her colleague David Sentelle of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia blocked an effort by environmental groups to halt implementation of the Bush administration’s much-maligned mercury rules.A legal challenge to the rules brought by enviros, health-advocacy groups, and 14 states will still be heard by the court, but Brown and Sentelle’s move means the EPA can proceed in enacting the rules in the meantime.

If you’ll recall, Brown was one of Bush’s most controversial judicial appointments; he had to twist arms for almost two years before he got her confirmed to the D.C. federal appeals court on June 8 of this year. She was loudly opposed by environmentalists, civil-rights groups, pro-choice activists, and a whole host of other progressive and left-of-center types. And now we get to see her objectionableness in action.

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Another gem from the AP article on this topic:

“There’s virtually no relationship between the number of children born with potentially elevated levels of mercury and U.S. power plants,” said Jeff Holmstead, EPA’s outgoing assistant administrator for air and radiation. “It’s only a very, very small number of people who are affected by local mercury depositions.” Yeah, right.

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Oh, how we’ll miss him.