The court holds that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was arbitrary and capricious in determining that a waste disposal company's proposed landfill expansion near an airport would be a hazard to air navigation. Under the Federal Aviation Act, accompanying regulations, and the FAA handbook, ...

The court affirms a district court decision requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) and to issue a critical habitat designation for the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow within 120 days. In 1994, the minnow was listed as an endangered species. FW...

The court holds that the federal government failed to show how limiting permits for eagle feathers only to members of federally recognized tribes is the least restrictive means of advancing the government's interests in preserving eagle populations and protecting Native American culture. An individu...

The court upholds a district court order enjoining the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and three Rhode Island employees from proceeding in an administrative adjudication of the employees' claims that the state had retaliated against them in violation of the Solid Waste Disposal Act's (SWDA's) whistle...

The court affirms the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency's (FSA's) decision to deny a New Mexico farm's application for enrollment in the conservation reserve program (CRP). The farm was purchased by a husband and wife who formed a joint venture to run the farm and whose sons opera...

The court affirms a district court dismissal of a county's complaint alleging that the designation of the Sequoia National Monument by President William J. Clinton violated the Antiquities Act, the U.S. Constitution, and several other laws. The court first holds that contrary to the county's argumen...

The court holds that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) failed to satisfy the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Management Act's (Atlantic Coastal Act's) consultation requirement before promulgating a final rule governing lobster fishing in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the U.S. Atlantic ...

The court dismisses a landowner's takings claims against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) and Minnesota state agencies for rejecting his proposed wetland replacement plan and ordering him to remove an access road on the property and to restore the wetlands on his lots. The landowner buil...

The court reverses and remands a district court injunction prohibiting the implementation of a U.S. Forest Service rule that restricts road building in national forests. Landowners, corporations, Native American tribes, and recreational groups challenged the Forest Service's implementation of the Ro...

The court holds that application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to a commercial housing development that threatened the continued existence of the arroyo southwestern toad, an endangered species, was a constitutional exercise of federal authority under the U.S. Commerce Clause. The court previo...