In normal times, the fate of Planet Earth would not ride on a decision issued in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta. Decisions of such importance are supposed to be made in more lofty arenas, such as the White House or Congress.

However, because the decision-makers in Washington have forfeited their legal and moral responsibilities, a county judge hundreds of miles away has been forced to step into the vacuum to address global warming. And in a recent ruling by Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore, the planet emerged victorious.

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At least temporarily.

The case in question involves a large coal-burning power plant proposed for construction in rural Early County, along the Chattahoochee River. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups sued to block the plant, charging among other things that it would emit up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, a primary culprit in global climate change.

In most circles, there's no longer any question that the planet is warming and that mankind is driving that change. Both Barack Obama and John McCain acknowledge the challenge and promise to address it. The National Intelligence Council, comprising the CIA and other agencies, reports that climate change could "seriously affect U.S. national security interests" in the next 20 years. "Logic suggests the conditions exacerbated [by climate change] would increase the pool of potential recruits for terrorism," Tom Fingar, deputy director of national intelligence, warned a House committee studying the issue.

Even President Bush grudgingly admits mankind's role in climate change — the scientific evidence is too overwhelming to deny. But he nonetheless stubbornly declines to do anything serious to address the problem.

In fact, Bush and his administration continue to thumb their noses at a U.S. Supreme Court decision on global warming issued more than a year ago that required the government to take action or explain why.

The court noted that under the Clean Air Act, the federal government is required to regulate any pollutant that endangers the public's health and welfare. It also noted the overwhelming evidence that CO2 endangers national security, the integrity of our coastlines and human health, among other things. Under the law, the administration had two choices: Explain why CO2 is not a danger, or start reducing CO2 emissions.

The administration has done neither. In fact, when the EPA sent the president its official report in December citing "compelling and robust" evidence that CO2 endangers human welfare, the White House refused to even open the e-mail.

In effect, that dereliction of duty dumped the problem into the lap of Judge Moore, who had to decide whether the coal-burning plant proposed by Longleaf Energy in Early County could be permitted without addressing the issue of CO2 emissions.

It couldn't have been easy. On the one hand, it's clear that CO2 contributes to global warming, and the Supreme Court had left little doubt that if CO2 hadn't yet been officially designated a dangerous pollutant, it would be soon. Roughly a third of the nation's current CO2 emissions come from existing coal-burning plants, and adding to that number would be irresponsible.

On the other hand, how could Georgia try to limit emissions of CO2 when no rules, regulations or emission limits had been set for the pollutant nationally or in other states? How could Longleaf be required to install hugely expensive technology that no other plant was required to use?

In the end, Moore courageously and perhaps a bit foolishly revoked the Longleaf permit, citing not just the CO2 issue but other problems as well. That ruling will be appealed, and it will be surprising if the CO2 portion of the ruling is upheld. At the moment it's still a little bit ahead of the law.

In moral and practical terms, however, Moore's ruling points in the direction we must inevitably head, and it's time Congress and the next president follow her lead.

• Jay Bookman is the deputy editorial page editor. His column appears Mondays and Thursdays.