Dear Friend,

The Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority just delivered another ruthless blow to the environment in Sackett v. EPA.

In a 5-4 decision, the Court eliminated longstanding Clean Water Act protections for wetlands that lack a "continuous surface connection" to larger bodies of water. Over 118 million acres of formerly protected wetlands now face an existential threat from polluters and developers.

Earthjustice is fighting back. We will use every legal tool appropriate to counter this ruling and strengthen Clean Water Act protections.

We need you with us in this fight. We represent our clients free of charge, so we rely on passionate environmentalists like you to support our work. Help us fight back against the Supreme Court and protect clean water for all.

DONATE TODAY: [link removed]

Our Board will match one-time donations $2:$1, and monthly donations $3:$1 for 12 months.

In Sackett v. EPA, Earthjustice submitted an amicus brief on behalf of our clients — 18 tribes who depend on clean water for food, economy, and culture. But the Court rejected their concerns in favor of a deregulatory approach that serves industry at the expense of people downstream who rely on clean water for their health, livelihoods, and way of life.

The conservative justices went out of their way to rewrite the Clean Water Act, ignore the text of the statute, and gut protections for wetlands. Even conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh found this ruling extreme, pointing out that the majority has replaced "adjacent" waters with "adjoining" waters — directly contradicting the plain text of the Clean Water Act:

"Put simply, the Court's atextual test — rewriting ‘adjacent’ to mean ‘adjoining’ — will produce real-world consequences for the waters of the United States and will generate regulatory uncertainty. I would stick to the text. There can be no debate, in my respectful view, that the key statutory term is ‘adjacent’ and that adjacent wetlands is a broader category than adjoining wetlands. To be faithful to the statutory text, we cannot interpret ‘adjacent’ wetlands to be the same thing as ‘adjoining’ wetlands."

The Court ignored both science and the text of the law in this case. Wetlands are often connected to larger bodies of water through underground connections, temporary surface connections, and other types of flow.

The Court’s decision to deregulate wetlands will hurt everyone living in the United States. Earthjustice will continue to fight to protect our waters to ensure the health of communities and ecosystems for decades to come.

This Supreme Court represents a major challenge for the environmental movement, but we are not deterred. Over two-thirds of Americans want stronger environmental regulations, and your contributions allow us to bring hundreds of cases to court across the country.

In the 50 years since the Clean Water Act was passed, we have made tremendous progress cleaning up our nation’s waterways. We will not stop working to strengthen water protections at the EPA, engage in lawsuits to protect communities from water pollution, and restore Clean Water Act protections through the legislative process.

When the conservative Supreme Court majority attacks environmental protections, we don’t hesitate. We fight back. We hope you will fight alongside us with a one-time donation matched $2:$1 or a monthly donation matched $3:$1 for 12 months.

DONATE TODAY: [link removed]

In partnership,
Sam Sankar
SVP of Programs, Earthjustice


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