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8 

SACKETT v. EPA 

Opinion of the Court 

property meets this definition.7 

This Court first construed the meaning of “the waters of
the  United  States”  in  United  States  v.  Riverside  Bayview 
Homes,  Inc.,  474  U. S.  121  (1985).  There,  we  were  con-
fronted  with  the  Corps’  assertion  of  authority  under  the 
CWA over wetlands that “actually abut[ted] on a navigable 
waterway.”  Id.,  at  135.    Although  we  expressed  concern
that wetlands seemed to fall outside “traditional notions of 
‘waters,’ ” we nonetheless deferred to the Corps, reasoning
that “the transition from water to solid ground is not neces-
sarily or even typically an abrupt one.”  Id., at 132–133. 

The agencies responded to Riverside Bayview by expand-
ing their interpretations even further.  Most notably, they 
issued the “migratory bird rule,” which extended jurisdic-
tion to any waters or wetlands that “are or would be used 
as  [a]  habitat”  by  migratory  birds  or  endangered  species. 
See 53 Fed. Reg. 20765 (1988); 51 Fed. Reg. 41217 (1986). 
As the Corps would later admit, “nearly all waters were ju-
risdictional under the migratory bird rule.”8 

In  Solid  Waste  Agency  of  Northern  Cook  Cty.  v.  Army 
Corps  of  Engineers,  531  U. S.  159  (2001)  (SWANCC),  this
Court rejected the migratory bird rule, which the Corps had
used  to  assert  jurisdiction  over  several  isolated  ponds  lo-
cated wholly within the State of Illinois.  Disagreeing with 
the Corps’ argument that ecological interests supported its
jurisdiction,  we  instead  held  that  the  CWA  does  not  “ex-
ten[d] to ponds that are not adjacent to open water.”  Id., at 
168 (emphasis deleted).

Days after our decision, the agencies issued guidance that 

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7 See Corps, Wetlands Delineation Manual (Tech. Rep. Y–87–1, 1987) 
(Wetlands  Delineation  Manual);  see  also, e.g.,  Corps,  Regional  Supple-
ment to the Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual: Alaska Re-
gion (Version 2.0) (ERDC/EL Tr–07–24, 2007). 

8 GAO, Waters and Wetlands: Corps of Engineers Needs To Evaluate 
Its  District  Office  Practices  in  Determining  Jurisdiction  26  (GAO–04– 
297, 2004) (GAO Report).