Nebraska's Supreme Court, in a split decision, cleared the the way for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline's route.
Four of the seven judges ruled that landowners who challenged the state law giving Nebraska's governor authority to approve the pipeline's route have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the law. The same judges also found that a lower court correctly ruled the state law as unconstitutional. But Nebraska's Constitution requires a supermajority of five to strike down legislation as unconstitutional. And so, despite a majority of judges finding the law was unconstitutional, the lower court's decision was vacated, clearing the way for TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline.
The U.S. House of Representatives could vote as early as today on a bill to approve the pipeline. The Senate is considering similar legislation. The White House says President Obama will veto any congressional legislation that approves the pipeline.
You can read the court's decision here.
Our full coverage of the pipeline is here.
Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
