Supreme Court 2020s: on Environment


Ketanji Brown Jackson: Rejected challenge to forest management regulations

Judge Jackson has issued several environmental protection rulings, such as rejecting a challenge to forest management regulations by timber and ranching plaintiffs. Judge Jackson also permitted a lawsuit to proceed against the Navy regarding contamination of a river. And she has weighed in on the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, denying an FDA request to redact information on antimicrobial drug use for food-producing animals.
Source: MedPageToday on 2022 SCOTUS Confirmation Hearings Feb 25, 2022

Elena Kagan: Congress can empower EPA and executive branch

Kagan led the majority opinion in 2019's Gundy, rejecting arguments that Congress had handed too much power to the executive branch. The case, which did not deal directly with environmental laws, narrowly avoided a revival of the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine but provided justices including Gorsuch a platform for expressing interest in revisiting the administrative law issue.
Source: GreenWire E&E News on 2021 EPA & climate SCOTUS cases Nov 3, 2021

Neil Gorsuch: Congress should write EPA rules, not Executive Branch

Justice Neil Gorsuch has warned against regulatory overreach by the executive branch, but he has also in other instances adopted a broad reading of federal law that has encouraged proponents of stricter climate rules. In his dissent in the 2019 nondelegation case Gundy v. United States, Gorsuch argued that the framers of the Constitution had given the power to write rules to "Congress alone" (Greenwire, June 20, 2019).

Justice Kagan led the majority opinion in 2019's Gundy, rejecting arguments that Congress had handed too much power to the executive branch. The case narrowly avoided a revival of the long-dormant nondelegation doctrine but provided justices a platform for revisiting the administrative law issue.

But environmental lawyers also saw Gorsuch's opinion in last year's landmark civil rights case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga., as a sign that Gorsuch could take broad reading of the Clean Air Act authority to regulate greenhouse gases (Climatewire, June 18, 2020).

Source: GreenWire E&E News on 2021 EPA & climate SCOTUS cases Nov 3, 2021

Stephen Breyer: Broad jurisdiction for EPA under Clean Water Act

Breyer, the leader of the court's liberal wing, is the last remaining member of the court's five-member majority in Massachusetts v. EPA. He often votes in favor of environmental interests, including in last year's County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, in which Breyer's majority opinion avoided a significant narrowing of Clean Water Act jurisdiction (Greenwire, April 23, 2020).
Source: GreenWire E&E News on 2021 EPA & climate SCOTUS cases Nov 3, 2021

  • The above quotations are from Supreme Court decisions 2020 to date.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Environment.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Environment.
  • Click here for more quotes by John Roberts on Environment.
2020 Presidential contenders on Environment:
  Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO)
V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE)
Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC)
Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT)
Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN)
Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Rep.John Delaney (D-MD)
Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI)
Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA)
Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Marianne Williamson (D-CA)
CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY)

2020 Third Party Candidates:
Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI)
CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV)
Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI)
Howie Hawkins (G-NY)
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Howard Schultz(I-WA)
Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) 		Republicans running for President:
Sen.Ted Cruz(R-TX)
Gov.Larry Hogan (R-MD)
Gov.John Kasich(R-OH)
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN)
Gov.Mark Sanford (R-SC)
Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY)
Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY)

2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates:
Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA)
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC)
Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK)
Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA)
Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL)
Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA)
Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX)
Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA)
Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA)
Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA)
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Page last updated: Mar 21, 2022