Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council — Ginsburg, J., Dissenting

Summary

Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justices Stevens and Souter, dissented from the Court's conclusion that mining tailings could be treated as fill material eligible for a permit under the Corps' permitting program. She reasoned that the Clean Water Act's text, structure, and pollution-control objectives require a discharge governed by an EPA new-source performance standard to proceed, if at all, through the EPA-administered permitting scheme. Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia separately concurred in the judgment, addressing the reasonableness of the agencies' classification and the deference owed to their interpretation, respectively.