| 25-989 |
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, et al. v. Adam Nickels, Acting Regional Director, United States Bureau of Reclamation, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2026-02-19 |
Pending |
|
agricultural-exemption clean-water-act irrigation-return-flows navigable-waters NPDES-permitting point-source-discharge |
1. Whether the Clean Water Act exempts from
its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
("NPDES") permitting program "discharges composed
e… |
| 25-320 |
Alaska, et al. v. United States, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2025-09-17 |
Denied |
Amici (4) |
alaska-lands federal-regulation land-management navigable-waters public-lands statutory-interpretation |
Whether the United States can regulate fishing on Alaska's navigable waters under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, when its statut… |
| 23-1028 |
Shannon Poe v. Idaho Conservation League |
Ninth Circuit |
2024-03-19 |
Denied |
Amici (2)Relisted (2) |
addition-of-pollutant chevron-deference clean-water-act discharge-of-pollutant navigable-waters ninth-circuit-ruling pollutant-discharge statutory-interpretation |
Whether there is a "discharge of a pollutant" under the Clean Water Act when material already within a regulated waterbody is merely moved or resuspen… |
| 23-368 |
Huntington Ingalls Incorporated v. Lynn Barrosse, et al. |
Fifth Circuit |
2023-10-05 |
Denied |
Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) |
exclusive-remedy federal-preemption longshore-and-harbor-workers-compensation-act maritime-employee navigable-waters preemption state-law-tort state-law-tort-claim workers-compensation |
The question presented is whether the Fifth Circuit correctly held—in conflict with the decisions of other federal and state courts of appeals—that an… |
| 23-38 |
David Anthony Newbold, et al. v. Kinder Morgan SNG Operator, L.L.C., et al. |
Fifth Circuit |
2023-07-13 |
Denied |
Response Waived |
civil-rights due-process federal-jurisdiction maritime-jurisdiction navigable-waters navigation-servitude ordinary-high-water-mark takings terrestrial-vegetation-test |
This case raises a critical issue concerning the Fifth Circuit limiting the federal navigation servitude to the permanent channel of navigable waters,… |
| 21-7098 |
Thomas G. Landreth v. United States, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2022-02-10 |
Denied |
Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP |
civil-rights indian-law land-use navigable-waters property-rights redress-of-grievances sovereign-immunity treaty-interpretation treaty-rights tribal-sovereignty |
1. Whether 25 U.S.C. @ 1302 preserves the sovereign immunity claimed by the Quinault Indian Tribe/Nation when citizens have or seek redress for grieva… |
| 21-768 |
Lil’ Man in the Boat, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco, California, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2021-11-23 |
Denied |
|
42-usc-1983 commerce-clause fees-and-obligations navigable-waters rivers-and-harbors-act statutory-interpretation tonnage-clause |
Pursuant to the Rivers and Harbors Act, Congress provided that "No taxes, tolls, operating charges, fees, or any other impositions whatever shall be l… |
| 21-454 |
Michael Sackett, et ux. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2021-09-24 |
Judgment Issued |
Amici (49)Relisted (3) |
civil-rights clean-water-act due-process epa-authority navigable-waters rapanos-test rapanos-v-united-states significant-nexus wetlands-jurisdiction |
Petitioners Michael and Chantell Sackett own a vacant lot in a mostly built-out residential subdivision near Priest Lake, Idaho. The lot has no surfac… |
| 20-899 |
Paul Sorum, et al. v. North Dakota, et al. |
North Dakota |
2021-01-05 |
Denied |
Response Waived |
anti-gift-clause conflict-preemption equal-footing-doctrine federal-dam-projects flood-control-act navigable-waters public-trust-doctrine submerged-lands-act |
1. In 2017, the North Dakota legislature directed transfer to private interests of 96,000 acres in the sovereign bed of the Missouri River and payment… |
| 20-361 |
James Courtney, et al. v. David Danner, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2020-09-17 |
Denied |
Amici (3)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) |
14th-amendment civil-rights commerce-clause fourteenth-amendment interstate-commerce navigable-waters privileges-immunities privileges-or-immunities-clause slaughter-house-cases state-government state-power |
1. Is the "right to use the navigable waters of the
United States," which was recognized by this Court
in the Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.… |
| 19-839 |
Eastern Oregon Mining Association, et al. v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, et al. |
Oregon |
2020-01-03 |
Denied |
Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) |
circuit-split clean-water-act environmental-regulation material-movement navigable-waters pollutant-discharge pollution-prohibition statutory-interpretation suction-dredge-mining |
The Clean Water Act forbids the unpermitted "addition of any pollutant to navigable waters," 33 U.S.C. § 1362(12) (emphasis added). See id. § 1311(a).… |
| 19-94 |
Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corporation v. Ingram Barge Company |
Eighth Circuit |
2019-07-18 |
Denied |
|
allision approved-design common-law-duty design-approval legal-standard-of-care navigable-waters negligence negligence-standard rivers-and-harbors-act |
May an owner's preservation of the approved design of a structure in navigable waters which is in compliance with its approved design, constitute negl… |
| 18-1307 |
Tennessee Clean Water Network, et al. v. Tennessee Valley Authority |
Sixth Circuit |
2019-04-15 |
Dismissed |
|
clean-water-act epa groundwater navigable-waters permit-requirement permitting point-source pollutant-discharge pollution resource-conservation-and-recovery-act |
Absent authorization by permit, the Clean Water Act prohibits the "discharge of a pollutant," defined as "any addition of any pollutant to navigable w… |
| 18-646 |
Marquette Transportation Company, L.L.C., et al. v. Entergy Mississippi, Incorporated |
Fifth Circuit |
2018-11-19 |
Denied |
|
admiralty admiralty-law comparative-fault maritime-law navigable-waters permit-compliance prejudgment-interest property-interest rivers-and-harbors-act takings tort-action |
Land-based decisions in the takings context mandate permit compliance as a threshold for a plaintiff to have a compensable property interest. For the … |
| 18-609 |
Joseph David Robertson v. United States |
Ninth Circuit |
2018-11-09 |
GVR |
Amici (6) |
appellate-review clean-water-act criminal-procedure motion-for-acquittal navigable-waters rapanos-v-united-states sackett-v-epa united-states-army-corps-of-engineers-v-hawkes-co void-for-vagueness |
Petitioner Joseph David Robertson is an elderly Navy veteran who ran a fire fighting support truck business deep in the Montana woods. He dug some wat… |
| 18-593 |
StarLink Logistics, Inc. v. ACC, LLC, et al. |
Tennessee |
2018-11-06 |
Denied |
Relisted (2) |
clean-water-act effluent-limits navigable-waters npdes-permit point-source point-source-pollution preemption supremacy-clause |
Whether a state law that authorizes a polluter to discharge covered pollutants from a point source into the navigable waters of the United States with… |
| 18-462 |
Bobbie Gunderson, et vir v. Indiana, et al. |
Indiana |
2018-10-12 |
Denied |
Amici (4) |
beach-access equal-footing equal-footing-doctrine great-lakes high-water-mark land-ownership navigable-waters ordinary-high-water-mark property-rights public-rights state-boundaries state-sovereignty territorial-sovereignty union-admission |
Under federal law, on admission to the Union a state takes title to lands underlying navigable waters, up to the "ordinary high water mark." On the se… |
| 18-436 |
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, dba Liberty International Underwriters, et al. v. Carrizo Oil & Gas, Incorporated |
Fifth Circuit |
2018-10-05 |
Denied |
Amici (2) |
admiralty-jurisdiction circuit-split contract-services doiron-factors kirby-test maritime-commerce maritime-contract navigable-waters offshore-oil-and-gas offshore-oil-gas vessel-involvement |
The federal courts have admiralty jurisdiction
under 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1) over a contract dispute if
the contract at issue is "maritime." In Norfolk So… |
| 18-268 |
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., et al. v. Upstate Forever, et al. |
Fourth Circuit |
2018-09-04 |
GVR |
CVSGAmici (4)Relisted (4) |
citizen-suit clean-water-act discharge-of-pollutants groundwater navigable-waters ongoing-violation point-source soil |
The Clean Water Act requires a permit for the "discharge of pollutants" into navigable waters, defined as "any addition of any pollutant to navigable … |
| 18-260 |
County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. |
Ninth Circuit |
2018-08-30 |
Judgment Issued |
CVSGAmici (32)Relisted (3) |
clean-water-act fair-notice groundwater groundwater-contamination groundwater-regulation navigable-waters nonpoint-source nonpoint-source-pollution permit-requirements point-source point-source-pollution underground-injection |
1. Whether the CWA requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source, such as … |