On July 23, 1990, the U.S. Claims Court found in two separate decisions that the federal government had unconstitutionally taken private property without just compensation.¹ In both, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) had denied Clean Water Act §404² permits to fill wetlands. The permit denial in New Jersey, affecting a 12.5-acre portion of residential property, resulted in the court ordering $2.6 million in damages.³ The other, in Florida, resulted in a $1 million award for the denial of a limestone mining operation on 98 acres.⁴ Although the Claims Court is only the trial court for monetary damage claims against the federal government under the Tucker Act,⁵ and appeals to the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court are still possible, the current visibility and prominence of wetlands policy and jurisprudence suggest that these cases have the potential to shape judicial decisions for years to come.