April 1, 2016 | Category:
Land Use,
Lawsuit,
Mining,
Mitigation Bank,
News | Tags:
appeal,
california land use,
court case,
land use,
Land Use Law,
lawsuit,
mitchell chadwick llp,
mitigation bank,
Water,
Water Law,
Waters Of The U.S.
Kennedy Skeptical Of Waters Of U.S. Rule Constitutionality
Earlier this week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy called the Clean Water Act “arguably unconstitutionally vague.” This was a welcome hint on the future of the rule for landowners, project proponents and other critics of U.S. EPA’s new Waters of the U.S. Rule, which defines the federal government’s regulatory reach onto private land. As is widely reported, Justice Kennedy is considered the Court’s “swing justice” and is therefore the default decider of controversial issues on a divided court. The hope from critics is that Kennedy, along with a plurality of the remaining justices on the Court, will vote to strike down the Obama administration’s jurisdictional power grab.
