This just in. The Court, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts:
The Clean Water Act regulates the discharge of pollutants into “the waters of the United States.” 33 U. S. C. §§1311(a), 1362(7), (12). Because it can be difficult to determine whether a particular parcel of property contains such waters, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue to property owners an "approved jurisdictional determination” stating the agency’s definitive view on that matter. See 33 CFR §331.2 and pt. 331, App. C (2015). The question presented is whether that determination is final agency action judicially reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U. S. C. §704.
United States Army Corps of Engneers v. Hawkes, No. 15-290 (May 31, 2016).
Short answer: yes.
The opinion is as bland as you might expect, focusing as it does on the Administrative Procedures Act. CJ had to get everyone aboard, after all.
But Justices Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito wrote separately to note that "the reach and systemic consequences of the Clean Water Act remain a cause for concern. As Justice Alito has noted in an earlier case, the Act's reach is 'notoriously unclear' and the consequences to landowners even for inadvertent violation can be crushing."
More to follow.
United States Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes, No. 15-290 (U.S. May 31, 2016)
