Judge Rejects Review Of CWA 'Jurisdiction' Order Despite High Court Ruling

摘要

A federal judge has rejected a California farm's claim that the Constitution allows pre-enforcement judicial review of an Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act (CWA) cease-and-desist (C&D) letter to stop farming on land the Corps said is a CWA wetland, despite a Supreme Court ruling allowing review of related CWA "jurisdictional" findings. The June 10 decision by District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California does not reference the high court's unanimous May 31 ruling in Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. that granted judicial review of jurisdictional determinations (JDs). (Doc. ID: 192339) But the judge did hear some briefing on the issue of Hawkes' relevance to the case, so it poses a test of how courts might apply the Hawkes ruling to similar pre-enforcement decisions, including C&D letters.