Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf
Page Number: 33

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

27 

Opinion of the Court 

the ecological consequences of a narrower definition of ad-
jacent.  But the CWA does not define the EPA’s jurisdiction
based on ecological importance, and we cannot redraw the
Act’s allocation of authority.  See Rapanos, 547 U. S., at 756 
(plurality  opinion).  “The  Clean  Water  Act  anticipates  a
partnership  between  the  States  and  the  Federal  Govern-
ment.”  Arkansas  v.  Oklahoma,  503  U. S.  91,  101  (1992). 
States can and will continue to exercise their primary au-
thority  to  combat  water  pollution  by  regulating  land  and 
water  use.  See,  e.g.,  Brief  for  Farm  Bureau  of  Arkansas 
et al. as Amici Curiae 17–27. 

V 
Nothing  in  the  separate  opinions  filed  by  JUSTICE 
KAVANAUGH and JUSTICE KAGAN undermines our analysis. 
JUSTICE KAVANAUGH claims that we have “rewrit[ten]” the 
CWA,  post,  at  12  (opinion  concurring  in  judgment),  and
JUSTICE KAGAN levels similar charges, post, at 3–4 (opinion
concurring in judgment).  These arguments are more than 
unfounded.  We  have  analyzed  the  statutory  language  in
detail, but the separate opinions pay no attention whatso-
ever to §1362(7), the key statutory provision that limits the 
CWA’s  geographic  reach  to  “the  waters  of  the  United 
States.”  Thus,  neither  separate  opinion even  attempts  to
explain how the wetlands included in their interpretation
fall within a fair reading of “waters.”  Textualist arguments
that ignore the operative text cannot be taken seriously. 

VI 
In sum, we hold that the CWA extends to only those “wet-
lands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that 
are ‘waters of the United States’ in their own right,” so that
they are “indistinguishable” from those waters.  Rapanos, 
547  U. S.,  at  742,  755  (plurality  opinion)  (emphasis  de-
leted); see supra, at 22.  This holding compels reversal here.
The wetlands on the Sacketts’ property are distinguishable