The court holds that the Endangered Species Act's (ESA's) prohibition on the "take" of endangered species is not unconstitutional as applied to purely local activities that affect a fly that exists only in California. The court first holds that the record clearly shows that wildlife in general, and ...

The court holds that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires the U.S. Forest Service to release to an environmental group management territory maps identifying Mexican spotted owl nest sites. The Forest Service may not withhold the maps under FOIA exemption 2, which permits withholding of inf...

The court holds that exemption 2 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not exempt the U.S. Forest Service from disclosing documents revealing the locations of northern goshawk nest sites. The government has failed to demonstrate how the nest sites related "solely," or even predominantly, "to...

The court reverses a district court opinion that the stare decisis effect of a decision by a federal district court in Washington State bars appellants' current challenge to the president's 1994 forest plan. The court holds that stare decisis does not require a district court in one circuit to follo...

The court holds that a commercial fisher's challenge to regulations establishing a limited entry program in the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery is untimely under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The fisher failed to seek review within 30 days after the regulations were promulga...

The court holds that a district court erred in including as "relevant conduct" for sentencing purposes an individual's sale of 118 black bear gall bladders to an undercover agent. The court first holds that the district court erred because relevant conduct under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines must b...

The court sets aside the critical habitat designation (CHD) for the southwestern willow flycatcher because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') adoption of a baseline approach to measure the economic impact of the flycatcher CHD was an erroneous construction of the Endangered Species Act (ESA...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining the future planting of disputed genetically engineered alfalfa seed pending the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's completion of an enivironmental impact statement. The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and no...

A district court set aside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS') decision not to designate critical habitat or to prepare a recovery plan for the jaguar. The FWS' critical habitat designation determination was not based on the best scientific evidence available and was inconsistent with the st...

A district court enjoined an energy company from building additional wind turbines at a wind farm project in West Virginia until it obtains an incidental take permit under the ESA for the Indiana bat, an endangered species. Indiana bats are present at the project site and the project is reasonably c...