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Gathering Storm: SEC v. Jarkesy and Implications for Environmental Enforcement

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) enforcement program has long been the backbone of environmental enforcement in the United States. That program may now be bound for dramatic change. This Article analyzes the threats posed to the Agency’s program by the U.S. Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, in which three constitutional questions presented cut to the core of administrative enforcement.

Clearing the Air on Supplemental Environmental Projects

Supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) have received a growing amount of attention in recent years, from the Donald Trump Administration banning their use in settlements, to regulation and guidance from the Joseph Biden Administration reversing the ban, to legislative proposals prohibiting them altogether. This Article examines SEPs’ legality under existing law, focusing on claims that they violate the Miscellaneous Receipts Act and the Antideficiency Act. It begins with a brief history of SEPs’ policy evolution and the limitations on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s and U.S.

Center for Biological Diversity v. Regan

A district court denied the state of Florida's motion for a limited stay of the court's prior ruling vacating EPA's approval of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. Environmental groups initially sued, arguing EPA and FWS violated the ESA because neither the p...

Sheetz v. El Dorado, California, County of

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land use permit conditions, in a lawsuit concerning a traffic impact fee as a condition of building a prefabricated home on a parcel of land. The landowner challenged the fee a...

DeVillier v. Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Texas property owners should be permitted to pursue claims under the Takings Clause through an inverse-condemnation cause of action available under Texas law. Over 120 property owners argued that a Texas highway elevation and expansion project, which buil...

Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

A district court denied summary judgment for Native American tribes in a challenge to EPA's approval of Minnesota's 2021 revised water quality standards. The revisions replaced quantitative standards with qualitative narrative standards that describe the characteristics Minnesota waters must have to...

Kentucky v. Federal Highway Administration

A district court granted summary judgment for 21 states in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) rule requiring each state to set declining targets for tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles on the National Highway System. The states argued requiring automobile ...

Loper Bright/Relentless and the Future of Administrative Law

On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce.

Texas v. United States Department of Transportation

A district court granted summary judgment for the state of Texas in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) 2023 rule requiring states to measure, report, and set declining targets for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles using the interstate and national highway sys...

National Wildlife Federation v. Lohr

A district court granted summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to the Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS') 2020 rule regarding certification of maps delineating wetlands. The group argued NRCS changed its policy regarding pre-1996 wetland certifications without exercisi...