In the last few years the U.S. Supreme Court has issued several significant environmental decisions, including Michigan v. EPA, Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, Massachusetts v. EPA and Rapanos v. United States.1 Another such case, perhaps less well-known than some of these other decisions, was the 2012 ruling Sackett v. EPA, holding the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) authorized federal courts to entertain pre-enforcement jurisdictional challenges to a compliance order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.2
Sackett highlights the courts’ function overseeing EPA in carrying out Congress’ environmental directives. It simultaneously illuminates the critical role of the courts—the branch of government not dependent upon or otherwise subject to the vicissitudes of electoral politics—balancing the enforcement of environmental policy against procedural mechanisms safeguarding property rights.
