Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-260_jifl.pdf
Page Number: 39

6 

COUNTY OF MAUI v. HAWAII WILDLIFE FUND 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

flies from Europe to Baltimore—illustrates the problem.  If 
we  apply  the  Court’s  interpretation  of  §1362  to  this  trav-
eler’s journey, he would be “from” Europe for the first part
of the flight, but at some point he might cease to be “from”
Europe  and  would  then  be  from  someplace  else,  maybe
Greenland or geographical coordinates in the middle of the 
Atlantic.  This  is  a  very  strange  notion,  and  therefore,  I 
think the statutory text compels us to choose between the 
two alternatives set out above. 

The Court rejects both of these because it thinks they lead 
to unacceptably extreme results.  “Originally from” would
impose  liability  even  if  pollutants  discharged  into  ground 
water had to travel 250 miles over the course of 100 years 
before reaching navigable waters.  See ante, at 6.  And “ ‘im-
mediately’ ”  or  “ ‘directly’  from,”  the  Court  thinks,  would 
mean  that  a  polluter  could  evade the  permit  requirement
by discharging pollutants from a pipe located just a few feet
from navigable waters.  Ante, at 14–15. 

To  escape  these  possibilities,  the  Court  devises  its  own 
test: A permit is required, the Court holds, “when there is a
direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters
or  when  there  is  the  functional  equivalent  of  a  direct  dis-
charge.”  Ante, at 15 (emphasis in original).  The Clean Wa-
ter Act, however, says nothing about “the functional equiv-
alent”  of  a  direct  discharge.  That  is  the  Court’s  own 
concoction, and the Court provides no clear explanation of 
its meaning.

The  term  “functional  equivalent”  may  have  a  quasi-
technical ring, but what does it mean?  “Equivalent” means 
“equal”  in  some  respect,  and  “functional”  signifies  a  rela-
tionship  to  a  function.  The  function  of  a  direct  discharge
from a point source into navigable waters is to convey the
entirety of the discharge into navigable waters without any
delay.  Therefore, the “functional equivalent” of a direct dis-
charge of a pollutant into navigable waters would seem to
be a discharge that is equal to a direct discharge in these