Constitution Index · H.J.Res. 61 · 2025-02-25
Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing".
Latest official status (2025-05-23): Became Public Law No: 119-14.
Constitutional grade
A
Constitutional
Congress used lawful oversight to nullify an agency emissions rule, acting within enumerated legislative power while infringing no rights, taking no property, and pushing control downward toward states and communities.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 Article I, Section 7 Amendment I Amendment IX Amendment X Amendment V
SI-generated grade · passed automated checks (real Constitution citation, language rules) · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology · Report an error: hello@valuesforamerica.com
The five checks
Enumerated powers · passes
Congress acts within explicit authority: Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 to make laws necessary and proper for overseeing executive implementation, Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 over interstate commerce affected by manufacturing emissions, and Article I, Section 7 legislative power exercised through the Congressional Review Act. Disapproving an agency rule is a restraint on federal power, not an assertion of new power beyond enumeration.
Bill of Rights · passes
This resolution removes rather than imposes a federal restriction, so it infringes no right in the first ten amendments. No speech, religion, press, assembly, arms, search, trial, jury, or punishment provision is implicated. Under the First Amendment and Ninth Amendment, reducing a prior restraint on lawful manufacturing and labor favors liberty. No Tenth Amendment violation because it returns power from the agency.
Individual liberty · passes
The resolution lessens federal restraint on a person's property, labor, and enterprise by removing federal emission standards for the rubber processing subcategory. The burden was on the government to justify the restriction; Congress found the agency rule unwarranted and withdrew it. No belief, speech, bodily autonomy, or use of property is newly restricted.
Decentralization · passes
The action moves decision-making downward by nullifying a federal agency rule and leaving control to states, localities, markets, and common-law remedies. While an individual family cannot manage interstate pollutant dispersion alone, a local community or county and especially a state can regulate local plants under state police powers, consistent with the Tenth Amendment reservation to the states. It does not consolidate power upward.
Due process and takings · passes
No person is deprived of life, liberty, or property under the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause and no property is taken under the Fifth Amendment Takings Clause. The resolution imposes no penalty, no seizure, no forfeiture, and no retroactive liability. It was enacted through bicameralism and presentment under Article I, Section 7, with public notice via chapter 8 of title 5, satisfying procedural regularity.
Provenance
- Congress.gov: HJRES 61 summary · fetched 2026-10-08 · official page ↗
Version history · never overwritten
| Grade | Graded | Rubric | Source hash | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A · #205 | 2026-10-08 | vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0 | 20413507b53c | current |
Cite this
Values for America. “Constitutional grade: H.J.Res. 61, Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Rubber Tire Manufacturing"..” VFA Constitution Index, grade 205 (rubric vfa-constitutional-grade/1.0), graded October 8, 2026. https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution-index/grades/205. Accessed 2026-10-19.
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