Another Reason To Despise Kavanaugh - Ruled Against Endangered Species 17 Times In 18 Cases

[hatrack]

If Judge Brett Kavanaugh becomes Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh, activists who regularly use the courts to protect wildlife will need to rethink their legal strategies.

An analysis of Kavanaugh’s 12-year record on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit finds that he has consistently ruled against measures to protect species. In the 18 significant, species-related suits that have come before Kavanaugh, he’s decided against protections in 17― or about 95 percent of the time.

This analysis comes from William Snape, an assistant dean at American University’s Washington College of Law and senior counsel with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). The group is supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in an Endangered Species Act case set to go before the Supreme Court this October, one that advocates say could have a lasting impact on species protections.

In Weyerhaeuser v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the world’s largest timber company is challenging a federal decision to designate 1,544 acres of land in Louisiana as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog, of which only 100 or so are left in the wild. Recently-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy was a centrist whose swing vote sometimes landed environmental cases like Weyerhaeuser in favor of protection. But Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the court would give it an even stronger 5-4 pro-business majority, dramatically stacking the odds against species in future decisions.

EDIT

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kavanaugh-endangered-species_us_5b7f15f8e4b0729515114437

[2naSalit]

1. ?

activists who regularly use the courts to protect wildlife will need to rethink their legal strategies.

That's not really much of a choice nor is it realistic since many of these lawsuit are due to the fact that in order to address any disputes regarding many environmental/species protective laws is that they require the federal courts to hear the arguments... it's written right there in the laws like the ESA for instance. You have to go to court to address any grievance regarding the law and since it's a federal law, you have to take it to federal court, period.

Rethinking a strategy that does not include legal recourse regarding a federal regulation or law is just not an option.