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

Letter

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