Under the previous administration, the EPA, to paraphrase Whittaker Chambers, was allowed to ‘feel out the land to see how many inches it could take before reaching a mile.’ With decrees like WOTUS and the Clean Power Plan, the agency acted in such reckless disregard for the rule of law and toward the people it sought to bring under its heavy thumb that even the Washington Post admitted it was ‘helping to justify every negative caricature’ Republicans could make of it. This is why I’m happy to see Scott Pruitt, a committed federalist and champion of sane energy and environmental policy, take over an agency that has been given license to grossly overstep its bounds and is in much need of being reined in.