Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency

Summary

A unanimous Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, held that recipients of an EPA administrative compliance order issued under Clean Water Act §309 may bring a civil action under the Administrative Procedure Act to challenge the order: the order is 'final agency action' under 5 U.S.C. §704, the Sacketts had no other adequate remedy in a court, and the Clean Water Act does not preclude judicial review. The Court assumed without deciding the Government's assertions about the order's consequences—exposure to doubled daily penalties and limits on obtaining a Corps permit—and did not reach the merits of whether the Sacketts' lot contains jurisdictional wetlands or their Fifth Amendment due process claim. The Ninth Circuit's contrary judgment was reversed and the case remanded. Justice Ginsburg concurred on the understanding that the holding permits immediate litigation of the jurisdictional challenge while leaving open whether the order's terms and conditions are also challengeable; Justice Alito concurred, calling the relief modest and urging Congress to clarify the Act's reach.