After seven years of organizing, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition— made up of the Hopi, Navajo, Uintah and Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni Nations—secured the protection of 1.35 million acres of federal public land within the boundaries of the state of Utah. The land included the twin Bears ...

This is a story of energy and fish, the federal laws that regulate them, and their past and future as resource industries in the United States. United States federal law has long treated our oceans as an endless bounty of natural resources, ready for human extraction, consumption, and exhaustion. But ...

In County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, the Supreme Court held that “the statute requires a permit when there is a direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters or when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” The Court thus confirmed that some discharges traveling ...

Environment Texas Citizen Lobby v. ExxonMobil reaffirms the age-old adage that Everything is Bigger in Texas. The facts drip with superlatives. Baytown, Texas is home to Exxon’s prized facility, the “largest petroleum and petrochemical complex in the nation.” The plaintiffs—environmental groups suing on behalf of Baytown residents—alleged Exxon committed over ...

It is no secret that the chemicals present in pesticides can damage environmental and human health. Preventing this damage is why the process of registering pesticides is so crucial. In National Family Farm Coalition v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ninth Circuit Court upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ...

Advisory committees serve vital roles in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other federal agencies. At EPA, advisory committees review the scientific basis of the agency’s decision making, revise air quality standards, and advise the agency on its research program, among other functions. In 2017, EPA issued a directive titled ...

In McGirt v. Oklahoma, parties disputed sovereignty over a criminal defendant for a crime committed on contested native lands. In a groundbreaking decision, the Supreme Court held that large parts of Oklahoma fell under tribal criminal jurisdiction previously unrecognized. The ruling was widely celebrated amid growing support for indigenous land ...

My decision to write about the Congressional Review Act (CRA) in the fall of 2020 launched the beginning of an academic journey marked by several unexpected twists and turns. I originally chose to write about the CRA because, like many political theorists at the time, I was curious whether a ...