The court dismisses on ripeness grounds U.S. and Native American tribes' request to clarify the nature and scope of tribal water rights in Oregon’s Klamath Basin and to assess the water rights standard set forth in a state administrative adjudication. Prior litigation in this dispute establishe...
The court upholds the dismissal of a property owner's inverse condemnation action against the state of Rhode Island for acquiring a portion of his property in 1975 by adverse possession. Because the owner failed to seek compensation through the state court, he forfeited his federal claim. Adequate s...
The court affirms a district court decision that New York Air Pollution Mitigation Law §66-k is preempted by the Clean Air Act (CAA) Title IV cap-and-trade system and violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Section 66-k requires the assessment of an air pollution mitigation offs...
The court refuses to reinstate a contempt order against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) penalizing the agency $500,000 a day if it did not comply with a separate order requiring the Corps to lower water flow levels in the Missouri River. The judicial panel on multidistrict litigation tr...
The court holds that §21 of Article XVII to the South Dakota Constitution, which prohibits corporations or syndicates from acquiring or obtaining an interest in land used for farming and from otherwise engaging in farming in South Dakota, violates the dormant U.S. Commerce Clause of the U.S. Co...
The court reverses and remands a district court's approval of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) that failed to discuss and respond to seven scientific studies casting doubt on the U.S. Forest Service's conclusion that northern goshawks are habitat generalists. In response to the Forest Se...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that certain aspects of local fleet rules do not escape preemption under CAA §209(a) simply because they address the purchase of vehicles rather than their manufacture or sale. The fleet rules prohibit the purchase or lease of vehicles by fleet operators that do not ...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) did not violate NEPA, relevant CEQ regulations, or the CAA when it failed to evaluate the environmental impact of increased cross-border operations of Mexican motor carriers in its EA because any environmental i...
A California appellate court denied an environmental group's petition to compel a city to rescind its approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) for the development of a former military base despite the group's claims of insufficient evidence to support conclusions regarding impacts in housing...
A California appellate court held that a health care company adequately established that its chemical plasticizer (DEHP) posed no significant risk of causing cancer in humans and, thus, was exempt from warning requirements under the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Propositi...