The Tenth Circuit held that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) applies a strict liability standard to the taking or killing of migratory birds but that it requires a defendant to proximately cause the statute's violation for the statute to pass constitutional muster. The case arose when two oil dr...

The Second Circuit affirmed an individual's conviction and sentence for knowingly importing exotic birds, African black sparrowhawks, into the United States in violation of the Wild Bird Conservation Act and for making false statements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with regard to that import...

The Ninth Circuit vacated as moot a dispute concerning the federal government's policy for listing killer whales under the Endangered Species Act. An environmental group filed suit after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-Fisheries denied its petition to list the Southern Res...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court judgment ordering the forfeiture of 64,695 pounds of shark fins under the Shark Finning Prohibition Act. Neither the statute nor its implementing regulations provided fair notice that the vessel, which purchased the fins at sea from other vessels, would be co...

A district court ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to publish a final listing determination for the polar bear by May 15, 2008. The parties agreed that the DOI failed to meet its nondiscretionary duty under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) §4 to act on the proposed rule within o...

The Tenth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a Native American tribe member's indictment for shooting an eagle without a permit in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Act. The lower court ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act precluded the government from p...

The D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court decision upholding NOAA-Fisheries' denial of an emergency rulemaking petition concerning the protection of the North Atlantic right whale, but remanded its dismissal of claims concerning the U.S. Coast Guard's failure to consider the impact of some of its acti...

The court affirms a district court's orders denying environmental groups' motions to enjoin timber sales as violative of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (WSRA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The court first holds that the district court properly denied the environmental groups' motions to ...

The court upholds the U.S. Forest Service's approval of four timber sales in the Ozark National Forest. A coalition of environmental groups sued the Forest Service to enjoin or set aside the timber sales. The court first holds that the district court did not abuse its discretion by limiting its revi...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court order enjoining the future planting of disputed genetically engineered alfalfa seed pending the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's completion of an enivironmental impact statement. The district court applied the traditional balancing test, and no...