Supreme Court Docket Report - March 18, 2013

On March 18, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in one case of interest to the business community:

National Environmental Policy Act—Scope of Government's Obligations—Standing and Ripeness

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq., requires federal agencies to prepare a detailed environmental-impact statement informing other agencies and the public about the reasonably foreseeable environmental consequences of any "major Federal action[] significantly affecting the quality of the human environment." 42 U.S.C.§ 4332(2)(C). In Summers v. Earth Island Institute, 555 U.S. 488, 490-97 (2009), the Supreme Court held that environmental organizations lack Article III standing to challenge Forest Service regulations excluding certain activities from review under NEPA, unless there is "a live dispute over a concrete application of those regulations."  The Court ruled that an affidavit from an environmental organization's member