Supreme Court

Prior to the rise of the environmental movement and the great increases in regulation of the environment by the U.S. Congress through its statutory authority as administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other bureaucratic agents, the U.S. Supreme Court was involved in environmental regulation. With its constitutional authority it exercised judicial review in regard to the constitutionality of legal issues in environmental cases. However, most of the cases involved tort law and principles of the common law. Some of the types of cases the Supreme Court reviewed included cases of water rights and a growing number of matters involving conservation. Other cases involved interpretations of federal and state laws. Some involved constitutional issues arising from federal laws, regulations, or actions; some involved the ...