We’re not trying to sugarcoat the ruling, which will set back America’s efforts to cut carbon pollution from the power sector, a leading contributor to climate change. But the decision did not go as far as many climate advocates had feared.

In particular, the majority did not take away the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants, vehicle tailpipes or other major sources of planet-warming pollution.

Instead, the justices said the agency cannot resurrect President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a now-defunct rule that would have forced utilities to engage in “generation shifting,” or switching from coal-fired power generation to natural gas or renewable energy.