U.S. Supreme Court Significantly Limits Scope of Federal Government’s Jurisdiction Under the Clean Water Act
On Thursday, May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Sackett v. EPA, a closely watched case concerning the jurisdictional reach of the federal government’s ability to regulate sources of pollution under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Specifically, the Court addressed the test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the United States” within the scope of the CWA. The CWA prohibits the discharge of pollutants into “navigable waters,” which the CWA defines as “the waters of the United States.” The definition has been the subject of numerous cases and interpretations, most recently in the 2006 Supreme Court decision in Rapanos v. United States, which created multiple tests for what constituted “waters of the United States.” The majority in Sackett has created a single, much narrower test. The background of Sackett v. EPA dates back to 2007, when plaintiffs Michael and Chantell Sackett began backfilling their property with dirt and rock, about 300 feet from Priest Lake. The Sacketts received a notice from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which instructed the Sacketts to stop work because of the presence of wetlands protected by the CWA, which bars the discharge of pollutants, including rocks and sand, into “waters of the United States.” The EPA reasoned that the wetlands on the Sacketts’...