The US Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate wetlands.
This is a major blow to Joe Biden’s climate agenda and a victory for the American people.
Major Biden defeat at the Supreme Court today, with SCOTUS nuking the Biden EPA’s absurd attempt to redefine “waters of the U.S.” to give EPA radical new power to regulate any water anywhere. The judgment was 9-0 (while the opinion itself was 5-4). https://t.co/wbBywrfqic pic.twitter.com/HSO3CXYDSJ
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 25, 2023
Biden’s EPA wanted to regulate every puddle and pond which they deemed “wetlands” under the Clean Water Act – but the Supreme Court struck it down.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Michael and Chantell Sackett, a couple from Idaho who filed a lawsuit after the EPA blocked them from building a home on their own land because it contained “wetlands.”
The US Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously sided with the Sacketts, but its reasoning for the ruling was split 5-4.
CBS News reported:
The Supreme Court on Thursday curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate certain wetlands that qualify as “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, curbing what has long been seen as a key tool to protect waterways from pollution.
The high court ruled against the agency in a long-running dispute with Idaho landowners known as Sackett v. EPA. In an opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the court found that the agency’s interpretation of the wetlands covered by the Clean Water Act is “inconsistent” with the law’s text and structure, and the law extends only to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies of water that are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right.”
While the majority acknowledged that weather and climate events like low tides and dry spells can cause “temporary interruptions” between bodies of waters covered by the law, the court said that wetlands protected under the Clean Water Act should be otherwise “indistinguishable” from other regulated waters.
The Supreme Court’s ruling reverses a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which sided with the EPA.
Schumer whined about the Supreme Court’s decision and falsely claimed the “MAGA Supreme Court” is eroding our country’s environment laws.
The ruling was UNANIMOUS.
This MAGA Supreme Court is continuing to erode our country’s environmental laws.
Make no mistake—this ruling will mean more polluted water, and more destruction of wetlands.
We’ll keep fighting to protect our waters. https://t.co/wlp1LTvZJB
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 25, 2023