The Constitution, the Environment, and the Prospect of Enhanced Executive Power

摘要

Environmental law poses many intriguing questions of constitutional law, including issues involving separation of powers. Separation-of-powers questions stemming from environmental law disputes have affected significantly the allocation of authority among the three branches of the federal government to determine the appropriate degree of restrictions to place on government and private conduct with the potential to harm the environment. The implications of judicial resolution of constitutional issues in environmental disputes are not confined to the environmental law arena, however. In some areas, such as the law governing standing to sue in federal court, environmental cases dominate the constitutional landscape, establishing landmark precedents that then apply to myriad other areas of law.1 In other cases, separation-of-powers jurisprudence outside the arena of environmental law has the potential to alter the ways in which the government adopts and implements environmental law.