Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf
Page Number: 77

10 

SACKETT v. EPA 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring in judgment 

Recall again how the 1977 Act came about.  In 1975, the 
Army  Corps  concluded  that  the  1972  Act’s  coverage  of
“waters of the United States” included “adjacent” wetlands. 
40 Fed. Reg. 31324.  Then in 1977, Congress adopted a new 
permitting program for a category of “waters of the United 
States.”  Congress  allocated  to  the  Federal  Government 
exclusive  authority  to  issue  Clean  Water  Act  permits  for
dumping dredged or fill material into certain “waters of the
United States,” “including wetlands adjacent thereto.”  91 
Stat.  1601.  Through  that  statutory  text,  Congress  made
clear its understanding that “waters of the United States” 
included  “adjacent”  wetlands—and 
indeed,  Congress 
designed  important  federal-state  permitting  authorities 
around  that  precise  understanding.    Congress’s  1977
amendment did not “merely” express “an opinion” about the 
meaning of the Clean Water Act; rather, it reflected what
Congress understood “its own prior acts to mean.”  Bell v. 
New  Jersey,  461  U. S.  773,  785,  n.  12  (1983)  (internal
quotation marks omitted). 

to 

Moreover, Congress’s 1977 decision was no accident.  As 
this  Court  has  previously  recognized,  “the  scope  of  the 
Corps’ asserted jurisdiction over wetlands”—including the 
Corps’  decision 
cover  adjacent  wetlands—“was 
specifically  brought  to  Congress’  attention”  in  1977,  “and 
Congress  rejected  measures  designed  to  curb  the  Corps’ 
jurisdiction.”  United  States  v.  Riverside  Bayview  Homes, 
Inc.,  474  U. S.  121,  137  (1985).    Subsequently,  this  Court
has  recognized  that  Congress’s  1977  amendment  made
clear that the Act “cover[s] wetlands adjacent to navigable
waters.”  Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook Cty. v. Army 
Corps of Engineers, 531 U. S. 159, 167 (2001); see Riverside 
Bayview, 474 U. S., at 138 (“Congress expressly stated that 
the term ‘waters’ included adjacent wetlands”).

Not  surprisingly,  in  the  years  since  1977,  no  one  has 

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whole set of adjacent wetlands.