The Eleventh Circuit held that the Miami Seaquarium’s treatment of a captive orca named Lolita doesn’t seriously threaten her life. Animal activists sued the aquarium, alleging it is perpetrating an unlawful “take” by “harm[ing]” or “harass[ing]” Lolita in violation of the ESA. A dis...

The Federal Circuit upheld rulings by the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) that imports of solar cells from China harmed U.S. producers. American solar producers filed petitions with the Department of Commerce seeking antidumping duties on Chinese s...

The Ninth Circuit held that FWS did not violate the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) when it authorized the taking of the barred owl to help the recovery of the spotted owl. The spotted owl was listed as endangered under the ESA in 1990, and it was later determined that one of the factors affecting ...

The Ninth Circuit held that portions of Idaho’s Agricultural Security Act violate the First Amendment. The law, enacted after a secretly-filmed expose of operations at an Idaho dairy farm went live on the internet, broadly criminalizes making misrepresentations to access an agricultural production...

A district court held that USDA Wildlife Services did not violate NEPA with its lethal wolf management policy in Idaho. In 2011, the gray wolf was delisted under the ESA in Idaho; as a result, management of the wolf population was returned to the state. Wildlife Services conducted an EA in 2011 conc...