RW SCOTUS Fires First Shot To Overturn Clean Water Act of 1972

[stopbush]

Republicanism marches on:

Court Splits Over Wetlands Protections


By DAVID STOUT
Published: June 19, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 19 — The Supreme Court set the stage for a re-examination of the 1972 Clean Water Act, as it narrowly ruled today in favor of two Michigan property owners who have sought to develop tracts designated as wetlands.


By 5 to 4, the justices overturned lower court judgments against the Michigan land owners, who had run afoul of the Clean Water Act over their plans to build a shopping mall and condominiums.

The ruling was not the resounding, unambiguous triumph that the land owners, John A. Rapanos and June Carabell, may have hoped for. Instead, five justices found that regulators may have gone too far in trying to thwart their plans, and it returned the case to lower courts for further deliberation. One of the five justices, Anthony M. Kennedy, even suggested in a separate opinion that the property owners might lose once again in the lower courts.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/washington/19cnd-wetlands.html?hp&ex=1150776000&en=d36aa195bc2f85bc&ei=5094&partner=homepage