On a day that foreshadowed politically charged battles ahead, the Supreme Court on Monday divided sharply on the scope of the Clean Water Act while also agreeing to widen its review of the federal partial-birth abortion ban next fall.
In the long-awaited Clean Water Act cases Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. United States, Justice Antonin Scalia won three other votes for a narrow interpretation of the act’s scope, while Justice Anthony Kennedy concurred in the judgment but offered his own more sweeping interpretation — guaranteeing continued litigation.
