THE SUPREME COURT IS SET TO GUT ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS — AGAIN

Last term, the Court gutted the EPA’s ability to regulate emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. This term, the Supreme Court will now determine the fate of the Clean Water Act. Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a fossil-fuel and industry-backed case and functions as the latest installment in a decades-old attempt by the country’s biggest polluters to circumvent the primary federal safeguard protecting the nation’s waters with the aid of the Supreme Court.

Beyond the devastation to water quality, communities, and the environment, this case fits into a broader war on the government’s ability to meet today’s most pressing challenges — and aligns with the radical Court’s plot to repeal the major advancements of the 20th century. The conservative justices are actively complicit in an anti-regulatory mission that goes beyond environmental threats: our social safety nets, anti-discrimination protections, voter safeguards, and workplace regulations are all on the chopping block this term as the Supreme Court races to enact one-party, minority rule from the bench. Only rebalancing and expanding the Supreme Court can end this Court’s insidious, radical, and deadly opinions from continuing for decades to come. Our memo shows just what is at stake in this monumental case for our rights and our waters: