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The 50-year history of the Clean Water Act (CWA) isn’t entirely, well, clean. The agencies charged with its enforcement have brazenly sought to expand the law’s meaning of “navigable waters” far beyond Congress’ original intent—and far too often at the expense of private property rights.
This includes Chantell and Mike Sackett. Their ordeal began in 2007 when they broke ground to build a new home on their Idaho property. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leaned on an unsettled definition of navigable waters to claim authority over the Sacketts’ land and shut down construction or face up to $75,000 a day in fines. Never mind that their parcel—in an already built-out neighborhood—is dry.
The Sacketts fought back in what has become one of the longest-running CWA legal battles for navigable waters clarity. Their dizzying quest spans four presidential administrations, zigzagging through lower courts, a procedural victory at the Supreme Court, and back again to lower courts.
But the end is finally in sight as the Court will open its 2022-2023 term on October 3 with Sackett II. At long last, the Justices will consider the central, critical question: What is the EPA’s true scope of power over the Sacketts’ property—and millions of acres of sometimes-soggy land across the country?
We hope you’ll join us for this exclusive virtual primer on Sacket II and its potential to reshape the future of federal regulatory powers and property rights—for the better.
