National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife
United States Supreme Court
551 U.S. 644 (2007)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
The Defenders of Wildlife and others (plaintiffs) filed suit in federal court against National Association of Home Builders, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and others (defendants), seeking review of EPA’s decision to transfer National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting authority to the State of Arizona pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA). Plaintiffs alleged that, pursuant to § 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the EPA was required to consult with the FWS and receive a determination that no endangered or threatened species would be harmed by the transfer. The EPA disagreed and argued that § 402(b) of the CWA placed an unconditional mandate on the agency that it approve the transfer once all criteria had been satisfied. The court of appeals disagreed, invalidated the transfer, and held the EPA’s decision to be arbitrary and capricious. Defendants appealed. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Alito, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
