Court Blocks Biden Efforts to Crack Down on Dishwashers, Washing Machines

Earlier this week, a federal court blocked the Biden Administration from implementing stricter regulations on basic household appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines.

According to Just The News, the ruling by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals forbids further implementation of an executive order signed by Joe Biden in 2022 which ordered the Department of Energy (DOE) to enact stricter rules on energy and water use as a result of the running of such machines. Opponents said that the new regulations would lead to a longer amount of time spent on cleaning, as well as Americans having to pay more for the appliances.

“This decision allows manufacturers to build better dishwashers, not be encumbered by counterproductive federal regulations,” said Devin Watkins, an attorney for the Competitive Enterprise, one of the groups which opposed the new regulations.

“A federal appeals court shut down part of Biden’s effort, striking down administration mandates targeting everyday dishwashers and laundry machines,” said O.H. Skinner, the executive director for the Alliance for Consumers. “Importantly, the court also explained that the left’s ‘energy efficient’ appliances simply do not live up to their billing because making people wash things twice is the opposite of being good for consumers or ‘efficient.'”

The court ultimately ruled that the DOE was in violation of federal law due to this attempt and may not have the appropriate legal standing to regulate these appliances in such a manner, declaring that it “is unclear that DOE has statutory authority to regulate water use in dishwashers and clothes washers.”

“But even if DOE has water-usage authority over the relevant appliances,” the ruling continued, “the Department…failed to adequately consider the negative consequences of the Repeal Rule, including the substitution effects of energy-and-water-wasting rewashing, prewashing, and handwashing. And in all events, the 2022 DOE…failed to adequately consider the impact of the energy conservation program on ‘performance characteristics.'”

The lawsuit was filed by a coalition of states, as well as several consumer and interest groups. This included the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.