Pacific Legal Foundation, Environmental Section Attorneys

In Sackett v. EPA, 598 U.S. 651 (2023), the United States Supreme Court articulated the test for determining which hydrogeographic features qualify as “waters” potentially subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act. The decision ends an extended period of legal controversy over how to interpret the geographic reach of the nation’s preeminent federal water quality law. In this blog post, we—attorneys with Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that fights for private property rights and other constitutionally protected liberties—review how Sackett is being employed in the lower courts and by EPA and the Corps, in this first year following the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Continue reading “Sackett v. EPA one year later: assessing the decision’s implementation in the lower courts” →