Supreme Court could shift more control over wetlands to states
Route Fifty: Jonathan Adler, the Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law, discussed how the term “wetlands” fit into the the legal definition of the language governing “waters of the United States.” In past cases, he said, the Supreme Court has narrowed the bodies of water that fit under that definition by, for example, excluding abandoned quarries now filled with water. “One problem for state and local policymakers for the past 20 years, has been uncertainty about the extent of the federal government’s role conserving wetlands,” he said.