Environmental -- 2018



Chamber of Commerce v. EPA   (10th Circuit)

Jurisdictional issue in challenge to Waters of the US rule

The NAM filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in an appeal to a court ruling which held that challenges to the EPA’s rule establishing jurisdiction over waters of the United States should be heard in appellate courts, rather than in district courts. Federal law specifies that, while most lawsuits are filed in trial courts, a few types of suits must be filed directly in the federal courts of appeals; however, the statute that provides appellate jurisdiction for certain challenges to EPA regulations does not apply to this challenge. Resolving this procedural issue is an important first step in resolving substantive arguments by many states and members of the business community against EPA’s decision to assert jurisdiction over many areas of the country previously not under their jurisdiction. The NAM’s brief argued that the district court erred when it deferred to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdictional decision and that the district court, in fact, had jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ complaint. On January 22, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the NAM's position in a case that determined that district courts, rather than appellate courts, should be the first courts to hear challenges to the new regulation defining the waters of the United States.


Related Documents:
NAM brief  (July 8, 2016)