I’m a lowly Santa Barbara County judge — but I’m more powerful than POTUS

A county judge in Santa Barbara has decided that she has more power than the President of the United States to regulate American energy supplies in wartime.

Last month, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to allow Sable Offshore Corp. to resume operations, pumping 60,000 barrels per day to expand domestic supply and reduce prices.

It is the same power that Joe Biden used in 2022 to order the production of baby formula.

So what gives a lowly Santa Barbara Superior Court judge the power to override federal, and presidential, authority?

Nothing. 

The net effect of Judge Donna Geck’s ruling is that Sable has to stop producing oil. Perhaps for months.

Which is absurd. No wonder companies are leaving California in a hurry.

Here’s the legalese involved.

The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution says that federal law trumps state law — pun intended — when the two collide. 

Judge Beck has ruled that there is no clash between federal and state law here. She says Sable can still comply with Trump’s orders, while first seeking permission from the state.

The very idea of that is ridiculous, to anyone with actual experience of California bureaucracy. 

The war is happening right now; California’s regulators might — might — approve Sable’s request in several years.

And of course, in the real world, state regulators will never approve Sable. Not in California, where the bureaucracy reflects Democrats’ hostility to fossil fuels.

The clash between federal and state is crystal clear. Common sense.

Common sense also dictates that we should produce our own oil, here in California — rather than continuing to depend on oil from overseas.

As Joel Kotkin noted in The California Post, the state is uniquely vulnerable to supply shocks from the Iran War because of its dependence on oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

It is a crazy situation, when we have so much oil underneath the ground and the continental shelf.

Adding insult to injury, the Santa Barbara court wants to hold a hearing next month to decide whether Sable is in contempt of court for defying earlier orders to stop pumping oil.

In wartime, whom should the company obey: President Trump, or a county judge?

None of this is necessary. Gavin Newsom should open the pipelines and help the war effort. 

Instead, he’s putting his political ambitions before the national interest. And not for the first time.

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