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Amicus Brief concerning Sackett v EPA - Mississippi Republicans Support States' Right to Regulate

Letter

By: John Kennedy, Bill Cassidy, Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell, Jr., Roger Marshall, Jerry Moran, Mike Braun, Todd Young, James Risch, Mike Crapo, Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, Rick Scott, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, John Boozman, Tommy Tuberville, Richard Shelby, Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski, Liz Cheney, Carol Miller, Alex Mooney, David McKinley, Mike Gallagher, Tom Tiffany, Glenn Grothman, Cathy Rodgers, Dan Newhouse, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Morgan Griffith, Ben Cline, Bob Good, Rob Wittman, Burgess Owens, John Curtis, Chris Stewart, Blake Moore, Brian Babin, Michael Burgess, Roger Williams, Beth Van Duyne, Troy Nehls, Chip Roy, Jodey Arrington, Randy Weber, Sr., Ronny Jackson, August Pfluger, Jake Ellzey, Lance Gooden, Dan Crenshaw, Louie Gohmert, Mark Green, John Rose, Scott DesJarlais, Chuck Fleischmann, Tim Burchett, Dusty Johnson, Ralph Norman, Jr., Jeff Duncan, Nancy Mace, Mike Kelly, Jr., GT Thompson, Jr., Guy Reschenthaler, John Joyce, Scott Perry, Dan Meuser, Cliff Bentz, Stephanie Bice, Markwayne Mullin, Kevin Hern, Bob Gibbs, Bill Johnson, Bob Latta, Jim Jordan, Steve Chabot, Chris Jacobs, John Katko, Claudia Tenney, Elise Stefanik, Nicole Malliotakis, Andrew Garbarino, Mark Amodei, Yvette Herrell, Jeff Van Drew, Adrian Smith, Kelly Armstrong, Ted Budd, Dan Bishop, Richard Hudson, Jr., David Rouzer, Greg Murphy, Matt Rosendale, Steven Palazzo, Michael Guest, Trent Kelly, Jason Smith, Billy Long, Sam Graves, Vicky Hartzler, Blaine Luetkemeyer, Ann Wagner, Peter Stauber, Michelle Fischbach, Tom Emmer, Tim Walberg, John Moolenaar, Bill Huizenga, Jack Bergman, Andy Harris, Garret Graves, Julia Letlow, Mike Johnson, Clay Higgins, Steve Scalise, Andy Barr, Hal Rogers, Thomas Massie, Brett Guthrie, James Comer, Jr., Jacob LaTurner, Tracey Mann, Larry Bucshon, Greg Pence, Jim Baird, Jim Banks, Jackie Walorski, Darin LaHood, Mary Miller, Rodney Davis, Mike Bost, Mike Simpson, Russ Fulcher, Randy Feenstra, Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Ashley Hinson, Rick Allen, Barry Loudermilk, Jody Hice, Andrew Clyde, Cynthia Lummis, John Barrasso, Shelley Capito, Ron Johnson, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Bill Hagerty, Marsha Blackburn, John Thune, Tim Scott, Lindsey Graham, Pat Toomey, James Lankford, Jim Inhofe, Rob Portman, Ben Sasse, Deb Fischer, Kevin Cramer, John Hoeven, Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, Steve Daines, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Joshua Hawley, Roy Blunt, Austin Scott, Drew Ferguson, Buddy Carter, Carlos Gimenez, Daniel Webster, Bill Posey, Michael Waltz, John Rutherford, Kat Cammack, Neal Dunn, Matt Gaetz, Doug Lamborn, Ken Buck, Lauren Boebert, Darrell Issa, Michelle Steel, Young Kim, Mike Garcia, Kevin McCarthy, David Valadao, Jay Obernolte, Tom McClintock, Doug LaMalfa, Debbie Lesko, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Aumua Amata Radewagen, Bruce Westerman, Steve Womack, French Hill, Rick Crawford, Mo Brooks, Robert Aderholt, Barry Moore, Jerry Carl, Roger Wicker
Date: April 19, 2022
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Environment

U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Representatives Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., Trent Kelly, R-Miss., and Michael Guest, R-Miss., today joined 196 of their colleagues in filing an amici curiae brief in support of the petitioners in the pending case Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Sackett case is directly related to how much authority the federal government has over states and private citizens to regulate "waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

"Like the members of Congress that enacted the CWA, [we] support policies that protect the environment while also ensuring that States retain their traditional role as the primary regulators of land and water resources, and that farmers, manufacturers, small business owners, and property owners like the Petitioners in this case can develop and use their land free of over-burdensome, job-killing federal regulations," the legislators wrote. "These entities need certainty about the scope of "waters of the United States' under the Clean Water Act, and the Court's endorsement of the Scalia test would provide that long-needed certainty."

"Congress made clear its intent in legislative text, structure, and history to establish a limited federal regulatory presence in cooperation with the States. In the CWA, Congress selected language that, from practically the Founding, was understood both to exercise limited jurisdiction and to preserve the States' traditional role as the principal regulators of local waters and lands. But this intent has now been turned on its head," the legislators continued. "Through the "significant nexus' test, the EPA and Corps can instead use any ecological connection between land and nearby water as a pretext for intrusive central planning. This case presents an opportunity for the Court to finally put the genie back in the bottle and endorse the functionally equivalent test proposed by Justice Scalia. Only then will Congress's dual purposes of cooperative federalism and environmental protection in the CWA be fully vindicated."

The brief was led by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, and Congressman Sam Graves, R-Mo., Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In total, the brief was signed by 46 senators and 155 House members.

The full text of the amicus brief and complete list of signers can be found here.


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