Supreme Court
Breaking Precedent: SCOTUS in the Midst of a Pandemic
In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that the Clean Water Act requires a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit “when there is the functional equivalent of a direct...
Time to Rethink the Supreme Court’s Interstate Waters Jurisprudence
This October Term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in on three and possibly all four of its pending original jurisdiction controversies over interstate waters. The Court’s past judgments and opinions have established...
The Impact of Justice Kennedy and the Effect of His Retirement
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in July has the potential to significantly affect the field of environmental law for years to come. The Supreme Court’s 2019 docket includes cases that cover a litany of environmental issues, and his...
2014 Supreme Court Review and Preview
On October 1, 2014, the Environmental Law Institute held its annual U.S. Supreme Court update for the 2014 term, again featuring the leading experts in the country. ELI President John Cruden led a discussion with two of the most...
Justice Rehnquist and the Dismantling of Environmental Law
Editor's Summary: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was uniquely situated to have a profound impact on the development of federal environmental law--both because of the overlap of his tenure with the development of the field of...
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1998-1999 Term
Editors' Summary: Although there were several distractions for the U.S. Supreme Court to handle this Term, the Court managed to stay focused and perform its role as the highest power of the Judicial Branch. The Court's environmental...
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1997-1998 Term
Editors' Summary: Every year since the advent of modern environmental law, the U.S. Supreme Court has been called on to resolve controversies surrounding a variety of subjects, such as hazardous waste cleanup, water pollution, air...
The U.S. Supreme Court's 1993-1994 Term
The U.S. Supreme Court handled an all-time high of over 7,700 cases in the 1993-1994 Term.1 The number and variety of environmental law cases on which the Court acted reflects this achievement. General numbers-...
Environmental Law in the Supreme Court: Highlights From the Marshall Papers
Editors' Summary: Earlier this year, the Library of Congress released the papers of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In so doing, it provided scholars with access to a remarkable record of the Court's inner-workings...