Fully 5 of the Supremes wrote separate opinions totalling 100 pages. The remaining four "liberal" judges were joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy in protecting wetlands in one case and upholding a government lawsuit against another developer that filled in wetlands in order to build a shopping mall on property that is 20 miles from a river that empties into Lake Huron. The ruling was 5-4 with Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito on the losing side of the vote as the conservative base of the Court. It was Roberts first shot at an environmental ruling..Hahaha..HE LOST :)
I am glad the Clean Water Act won...The key decision was by Kennedy, who agreed with the liberal judges that federal regulations can apply to land adjacent to tributaries, including tributaries that are not filled with water all year.
The conservatives voiced the opinion, that virtually any land in America would be covered under the government's interpretation of the law.
Its nice to know that the Bush adminstration hasn't removed everyone in the EPA that believes in protecting our land,air or water. Yahoo has a writeup about the ruling here.
