Biden suffers big defeat as Supreme Court rejects ‘overreaching’ environmental rule.

Supreme Court Limits Federal Power Over Wetlands, Boosts Property Rights Over Clean Water

The Supreme Court has made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution in a recent decision that strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water. This is the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority of the court narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.

The justices favored property rights over concerns about clean water in a ruling in favor of an Idaho couple who sought to build a house near Priest Lake in the state’s panhandle. They objected when federal officials identified a soggy portion of the property as a wetland that required them to get a permit before building.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court just ruled that Biden’s overreaching WOTUS interpretation is unconstitutional.

This is a huge win for farmers across America.

I’m proud to have led in this fight by obtaining an injunction against @POTUS‘ unlawful land grab at the district court.

— Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) May 25, 2023

By a 5-4 vote, the court said that wetlands can only be regulated if they have a “continuous surface connection” to larger, regulated bodies of water. The court jettisoned the 17-year-old opinion by their former colleague, Anthony Kennedy, that allowed regulation of wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to the larger waterways.

Environmental advocates had predicted that the narrowing the reach of the Clean Water Act would strip protections from more than half the wetlands in the country.

The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.

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