In his concurrence in the water case, Thomas also writes that today’s opinion “curbs a serious expansion of federal authority that has simultaneously degraded States’ authority and diverted the Federal Government from its important role as guarantor of the Nation’s great commercial water highways into something resembling ‘a local zoning board.’”
And this should seriously restrict the EPA’s future ability to use the wetlands argument against property owners who want to develop that property.
“The court holds that the Clean Water Act applies only to wetlands that are “as a practical matter indistinguishable from waters of the United States.” Therefore, the party that wants the CWA to apply to adjacent wetlands must show that the adjacent body of water is a “water of the United States” — that is, “a relatively permeable body of water connected to traditional interstate navigable waters” — and that the wetland “has a continuous surface connection with that water, making it difficult to determine where the ‘water’ ends and the ‘wetland’ begins”
It’s also a really good sign regarding the Chevron-related Case.
in the water case:
split 5-4 on the court’s new test, which held that only wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to a body of water are covered by the law.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the court’s three liberals.
With all due respect, sir, I believe you haven't been paying attention.
The EPA will behave just like New York. When the SCOTUS told New York State to stop denying permits, New York simply passed a series of laws making permits completely worthless.
The EPA will just find another angle to end-run the SCOTUS.
i have to agree, seems like there is still a lot of room for abuse and wiggling by EPA and the Corpse of Engineers.
I think the word to be used is PERMANENT and not permeable? I’m not smart enough to understand if the word really is permeable.
If “relatively PERMANENT” does that mean the only when it rains a lot creek that runs into another similar creek that runs into a mostly but not always permanent creek that eventually becomes a permanent creek that runs into the Arkansas River that is a navigable waterway and the low ground adjacent to my creek that gets soggy when it is really a wet season is NOW NOT A WETLAND and never has been?
I must say, I don’t have confidence that I am to be left alone by the feral gooberment gendarmes.
If we don’t get rid of dems holding the WH before Thomas and Alito retire or die, the future for the Constitution does not look good. Opinions like this make the dems even more desperate to take over SCOTUS.
God bless and protect Justice Thomas!