For all of President Joe Biden’s talk about wanting to “save democracy,” his administration keeps being dressed down in court for trying to evade democratic processes. On Jan. 8, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was the latest to send Biden’s agency machinations through the rinse cycle.

At issue were regulations by Biden appointees at the Department of Energy that imposed significant restrictions on washing machines and dishwashers. Both regulations limited the use of water per cycle while forcing the machines to run for much longer time periods to make up the difference. The court’s three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the department probably had no statutory authority to issue the restrictions at all, but that even if it did have that power, it used it in an illegally “arbitrary and capricious” manner.