A district court granted the state of Louisiana's request to block EPA and DOJ from imposing disparate impact mandates under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The state argued the agencies were attempting to create disparate impact mandates under Title VI by regulation without having authority to do...
The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a challenge to Iowa's "ag gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations at agricultural production facilities. Initially, the law prohibited the facilities from being accessed under false pretenses as well as prohibited false statements o...
A district court granted in part and denied in part the federal government's motion to dismiss a second amended complaint in an ongoing civil rights lawsuit brought by 21 young people. Plaintiffs argued the government promoted the exploitation of fossil fuels despite knowing its actions would signif...
The D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court order remanding to state court a climate liability suit brought against oil and gas companies. The District of Columbia initially sued in state court, arguing the companies deceived consumers about the causal link between fossil fuel usage and climate chang...
Congress in the 2020s has authorized three new environmentally focused grant programs relating to western waters and appropriated $450 million in multi-year funding. The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for creating and implementing these programs, giving it a new tool and resources for addressing stubborn environmental problems—some caused by the Bureau’s many dams.
Green startups play a crucial role in the transition to a sustainable economy, yet there is a gap in the literature about the legal and policy challenges these startups face. This Article seeks to fill that gap through interviews, surveys, and focus groups with senior law firm partners experienced in advising green startups, senior pro bono counsel and staff, chief executive officers of early-stage green startups, and senior staff at nonprofit legal aid groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court's October Term 2022 had major implications for environmental law, including its most significant Clean Water Act decision ever. Upcoming cases in October Term 2023 have the potential to be just as impactful. On September 25, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts who provided an overview of key rulings and major take-aways from the Court’s prior term, and discussed cases that have been granted review or are likely to be considered by the justices in the upcoming term.
A district court dismissed a civil rights challenge to St. James Parish's adoption of a land use plan in 2014. Nonprofit and religious groups argued their members were residents of the Parish descended from formerly enslaved people whose civil liberties, property rights, and religious rights were vi...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that granted two cities' motion to remand to state court climate liability suits brought against five oil and gas companies. The cities of San Francisco and Oakland initially sued the companies in state court, arguing the ...
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Climate Disclosure Rule has provoked heated controversy on many fronts. Several commenters have argued that the First Amendment precludes the SEC from demanding climate-related disclosures. This Article grapples with the unsettled state of “compelled commercial speech” doctrine, arguing that the rule’s constitutionality should be scrutinized using the prevailing rational basis test, and that even under the intermediate scrutiny test, the rule should be upheld.