"Climate Policy’s Advocates Take Page From Same-Sex Marriage Playbook"

"WASHINGTON — Two months ahead of a federal court hearing on President Obama’s signature climate change rule, a coordinated public relations offensive has begun — modeled after the same-sex marriage campaign — to influence the outcome of the case.

A national coalition of liberal and environmental advocacy groups, state attorneys general, mayors and even some businesses are adhering to the strategy that a network of gay rights and other advocacy groups began in the months before the Supreme Court heard arguments in the same-sex marriage case, Obergefell v. Hodges, last year. Those advocates cannot be certain, but they said they believed it had influenced the opinions of the justices, who ruled in June that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.

While such campaigns are common before major Supreme Court arguments, it is unusual to see a national effort aimed at a lower court hearing. But the climate change case, West Virginia v. the United States Environmental Protection Agency, to be argued June 2 before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is unusual."

Coral Davenport reports for the New York Times March 29, 2016.

SEE ALSO:

"Obama Admin Defends Climate Rule As ‘Eminently Reasonable’" (The Hill)

"Obama Administration Defends Limit to Power Plant Carbon Emissions" (Wall Street Journal)