Wilkins v. United States
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that Montana landowners' challenge to an easement allowing public access to a road running through their property was not time barred. The landowners sued over the scope of the easement under the Quiet Title Act (QTA), arguing the road's public use intruded on their...
Adorers of the Blood of Christ v. Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., LLC
A district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Catholic nuns seeking monetary damages for property taken by the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline. The nuns argued that construction and operation of the pipeline through land they owned would violate their free exercise of religion protected by t...
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement v. Iowa
The Iowa Supreme Court reversed, 4-3, a lower court order denying Iowa's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by nonprofit groups seeking to reduce fertilizer and waste runoff from farms into the Racoon River. The groups sought to force the state, its agencies, and a number of its officials to enact ...
Texas Ass'n of Manufacturers v. United States Consumer Product Safety Commission
The Fifth Circuit upheld a rule issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission prohibiting the manufacture and sale of children's toys and childcare articles that contained concentrations of more than 0.1% of any one of five phthalates, but remanded the rule to the Commission to address two proced...
Biden v. Sierra Club
The U.S. Supreme Court granted the Biden Administration's request to cancel arguments and suspend further proceedings in a lawsuit concerning the Trump Administration's plans to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border., full_html...
California v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Ninth Circuit overturned a ruling denying EPA's motion to modify an injunction requiring it to promulgate a federal landfill emissions plan by November 6, 2019. The appellate court held that the district court abused its discretion in denying the Agency's request for relief because EPA promulgat...
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy v. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
In an unpublished opinion, a state appellate court upheld the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' rules under which the permit for a copper-nickel-platinum mine was issued. Environmental groups challenged the rules, asserting that they were constitutionally vague and unenforceable. The court ...
EQT Production Co. v. Jefferson Hills, Borough of
A state high court held that a borough council was allowed to consider residents' testimony regarding firsthand experiences with a natural gas extraction company's hydraulic fracturing facility in a neighboring township in a hearing on the company's conditional use application to construct and opera...