Constitutional Law

The Tenth Circuit held that Oklahoma statutes that favor in-state water appropriation permit applicants over out-of-state permit applicants do not violate the Commerce Clause. The case arose after…

The Tenth Circuit held that an Oklahoma city and a Texas city that entered into water contracts with one another lack standing to challenge Oklahoma's water appropriation permitting process…

A district court upheld the constitutionality of an appropriations rider that reinstated an FWS rule that removed ESA protections for the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf in all areas outside of…

The Ninth Circuit held that a reserve program for raisins authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 does not constitute a taking in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The…

The Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of landowners' suit against the United States seeking compensation for the alleged taking of their riparian and upland property rights stemming…

The Federal Claims court denied a mining company's motion and the government's cross-motion for summary judgment in a Fifth Amendment takings claim stemming from various CERCLA…

The First Circuit upheld the dismissal of a developer's federal takings claim against two state agencies for restricting its development of a coastal residential subdivision in Rhode…

The Federal Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' temporary deviations from the water release rates set forth in an operating plan for the Clearwater Dam that caused…

The Ninth Circuit upheld, on statutory and constitutional grounds, California's vessel fuel rules as they apply to vessels located more than three miles off the California coast. The…

The Ninth Circuit held that ESA §§7 and 9, as applied to the California delta smelt, do not violate the Commerce Clause. In 2008, the FWS issued a biological opinion (BiOp) to the Bureau of…