Sackett v. EPA

Summary

Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Barrett, held that the Clean Water Act covers adjacent wetlands only when they have a continuous surface connection to covered waters that makes the wetlands practically indistinguishable from those waters. The Court rejected the EPA's significant-nexus approach and reversed and remanded because the Sacketts' wetlands were distinguishable from any possibly covered waters. Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, concurred and argued that the Act's additional jurisdictional terms tie its reach to Congress's traditional authority over interstate navigable waterways. Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, concurred in the judgment but criticized the majority for narrowing the statutory term “adjacent” and substituting judicial policy preferences for Congress's choices. Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, concurred in the judgment, agreeing that the significant-nexus test should be rejected and that the Sacketts' property was not covered, but arguing that adjacent wetlands also include wetlands separated from covered waters only by specified natural or artificial barriers.