U.S. Supreme Court’s 'Waters of the U.S.' gift to the Trump administration

On Jan. 13, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to resolve jurisdictional wrangling over which federal court should hear challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s contentious 2015 Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.  The Court’s decision came on the same day that the Obama administration filed a 300-page brief with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals vigorously defending the rule.

Issued in 2015, the WOTUS rule unleashed a torrent of Federal litigation. Thirty-one states, many local governments, and private industry asserted that the rule unconstitutionally expanded the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) reach and misapplied Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “significant nexus” opinion in the 2006 Rapanos case.

A leading voice in the effort to overturn the new rule is Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the Trump administration’s choice to head EPA. Pruitt has vowed to vacate the rule.

Click Here to read more.