Supreme Court Decision Alert - May 31, 2016

Today, the Supreme Court issued one decision, described below, of interest to the business community.

Clean Water Act—Reviewability of Army Corps of Engineers' "Jurisdictional Determinations"

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., No. 15-290

The Clean Water Act prohibits private parties from discharging dredged or fill material into "waters of the United States" without first obtaining a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Because this permitting process is expensive and time-consuming, the Corps created a procedure for providing landowners with "jurisdictional determinations" (JDs) that establish the Corps' position on whether a parcel of land contains "waters of the United States" for which a permit would be required. Today, in a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Supreme Court held that JDs are final agency actions subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).