It is instructive to review the Supreme Court’s record in its most recent term, concentrating on regulatory and administrative law cases, which are usually back-burner issues. But not this term....more
10/30/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Clean Air Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Firearms ,
First Amendment ,
Government Agencies ,
Gun Laws ,
Insurance Industry ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Supreme Court Justices
In 1984, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decided Chevron USA, Inc. v. National Resource Defense Council, reversing a lower court ruling that set aside EPA’s Clean Air Act “bubble policy” of providing regulatory relief from...more
7/25/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Certiorari ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Clean Air Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FCC ,
FERC ,
IRS ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
NEPA ,
NLRB ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS
Both regulators and the regulated community must remain alert to accommodate the constantly changing regulatory scheme created in the post-Sackett world.
The application of Maui and Sackett in recent months confirms the...more
2/26/2024
/ Chevron Deference ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
NPDES ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
The Supreme Court issued 58 opinions in the October 2022 Term. Rulings in several cases will affect the practice of regulatory and administrative law either directly or indirectly, as is recounted below. Before the Court...more
8/25/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Farm Animals ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Jurisdiction ,
Mallory v Norfolk Southern Railway Co ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
This is a brief roundup of recent federal court environmental and regulatory law decisions from the federal courts over the past few months, including the much anticipated ruling in Sackett, et ux., v, Environmental...more
6/1/2023
/ Air Pollution ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Environmental Quality ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FERC ,
Flooding ,
Navigable Waters ,
NEPA ,
Popular ,
Rivers ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Water Pollution ,
Waters of the United States
The 2023 redefinition reinstates the “1986” framework defining the reach and scope of navigable waters.
To determine if a regulated body of water is located on the landowner’s property, the agencies acknowledge these...more
Several decisions of interest were issued in the 2020 term, which stretched from October 2020 until early July 2021. This review will concentrate on environmental and administrative law cases....more
7/15/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Patent Judges ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Florida v Georgia ,
Guam v United States ,
Natural Resources ,
Ownership Rules ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas v New Mexico ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
Waste Disposal ,
Water ,
Water Rights
This is a brief account of some of the important environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco - On June 28, 2021, the Supreme Court decided...more
What follows is a brief account of some of the notable U.S. environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution vests the President, with the advice...more
6/23/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Building Permits ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Erosion ,
Homeowners ,
Misbranding ,
Oil & Gas ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Railways ,
SCOTUS ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
United States v Arthrex Inc ,
Workplace Safety
This is a brief account of some of the important environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - BP PLC, et al. v Mayor and City of Baltimore The issue the court confronted was a...more
The federal courts have issued some significant environmental law rulings in the past few days. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, Inc. On March 4, 2021, the court held that the...more
3/25/2021
/ Act of God ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of the Interior ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FERC ,
FOIA ,
Natural Gas ,
Pipelines ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service v Sierra Club
Here are some significant environmental and regulatory rulings and administrative actions from December 2020. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Texas v. New Mexico On December 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a water rights...more
1/14/2021
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
National Park Service ,
NPDES ,
SCOTUS ,
Texas v New Mexico ,
Water ,
Water Rights
In this summary of recent developments in environmental and regulatory law, venues are challenged, standing is upheld, statutory exemption is disputed and more....more
Decision creates difficult permitting challenges for oil and gas pipelines crossing jurisdictional waters.
Oil and gas pipelines continue to face difficult permitting challenges as Ninth Circuit declines to revive vacated...more
6/5/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Construction Industry ,
Dakota Access Pipeline ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Nationwide Permits (NWPs) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
SCOTUS ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
As usual, the last month of the Supreme Court’s term generated significant rulings on all manner of cases, possibly presaging the new directions the Court will be taking in administrative and regulatory law....more
7/9/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Atomic Energy Act ,
Auer Deference ,
Department of Commerce v New York ,
FCC ,
Fifth Amendment ,
First Amendment ,
FOIA ,
Food Marketing Institute v Argus Leader Media ,
Iancu v. Brunetti ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Knick v Township of Scott Pennsylvania ,
Lanham Act ,
Liquor Licences ,
Manhattan Community Access Corp v Halleck ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Outer Continental Shelf ,
Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd v Newton ,
PDR Network LLC v Carlton & Harris Chiropractic Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
SNAP Program ,
Takings Clause ,
TCPA ,
Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v Thomas ,
Veterans' Benefits ,
Viewpoint Discrimination ,
Virginia Uranium Inc v Warren
On March 19, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. Devries, affirming the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in this maritime tort case involving the availability of...more
3/22/2019
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Air and Liquid Systems Corp et al v Devries et al ,
Appeals ,
Asbestos ,
Asbestos Litigation ,
Component Parts Doctrine ,
Duty to Warn ,
Intended Use ,
Manufacturers ,
Maritime Transport ,
Reaffirmation ,
SCOTUS ,
Toxic Exposure ,
U.S. Navy ,
Wrongful Death
On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and held that international organizations, such as the World Bank, while being protected by the...more
3/5/2019
/ Absolute Immunity ,
Appeals ,
Foreign Governments ,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (FSIA) ,
Foreign Sovereigns ,
Immunity ,
International Litigation ,
International Organizations ,
International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 ,
Jam v International Finance Corporation ,
Qualified Immunity ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Interpretation
Prior to deciding whether to review an important February 1, 2018, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision involving the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County...more
The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that it will review the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit’s February 2018 ruling in Newton v. Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. which held that California’s wage and hour laws can...more
On November 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling vacating and remanding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Weyerhaeuser Company v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ...more
On March 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a ruling that the general federal five-year statute of limitations which is applicable to the enforcement of any civil fines, penalties or forfeitures (28...more
On January 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit became the latest federal Court of Appeals to issue a ruling reviving federal District Court challenges to the 2015 Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)/U.S....more
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its intention to hear a hotly-contested Endangered Species Act (ESA) case involving the “dusky gopher frog.” This frog’scritical habitat was determined by the lower courts to include...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in National Assoc. of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense, et al. (the WOTUS case). The Court held that the plain language of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two significant cases: Nat’l Assoc. of Mfr. v. Dep’t of Defense and Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC.
In National Association of Manufacturers, the Court is being asked to...more