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              Congressional                                             ______
            ~.Research Service






Supreme Court Narrows Federal Jurisdiction

Under Clean Water Act



June  21, 2023

On May  25, 2023, the Supreme Court decided Sackett v EPA, a case with significant implications for the
scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). While the Court unanimously agreed that
the lower court applied the wrong standard for determining when wetlands are considered waters of the
United States (WOTUS) based on their adjacency to other jurisdictional waters, it split 5-4 on the
appropriate test.
The majority formally adopted the approach taken by a four-Justice plurality in the 2006 case Rapanos v
United States. Under the majority's test, waters are limited to relatively permanent bodies of water
connected to traditional navigable waters and to wetlands that are waters of the United States in their
own right by virtue of a continuous surface connection to other jurisdictional waters so that there is no
clear demarcation between the bodies. Wetlands that are neighboring covered waters but are separated by
natural or artificial barriers are excluded.
The CWA  prohibits discharging certain pollutants into navigable waters, defined as the waters of the
United States, including the territorial seas without a permit, but the statute does not define WOTUS.
The definition of WOTUS is important because it determines which waters are subject to federal
government regulations and protections, including CWA permitting programs. In January 2023, the U.S.
Army  Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-the two
agencies tasked with implementing the CWA-issued a final rule redefining WOTUS. (See this report for
an in-depth discussion of the rule and the previous regulations promulgated to define the term.) The
Court's ruling in Sackett construes the reach of the CWA more narrowly than the new or previous
regulatory interpretations or the approach adopted by the courts of appeals since Rapanos. While the
Sackett decision does not directly address the merits of the new rule, its rejection of several elements
included in the rule casts doubt on the current regulatory framework. It also evinces the Court's
decreasing reliance on deferential modes of statutory construction as well as its increasing insistence on
clear congressional authorization for agency action.

Prior  Supreme Court Rulings Regarding WOTUS

The Supreme Court has considered the scope of WOTUS in prior cases. (See this report for an in-depth
discussion of those cases.) Most recently, in 2006, the Supreme Court decided Rapanos v. United States, a
                                                                Congressional Research Service
                                                                https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                    LSB10981

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