Supreme court: Case Sackett v. EPA (2012) (BL Unit I Case Study)

SUPREME COURT CASE SACKETT V. EPA (2012)
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SUPREME COURT CASE SACKETT V. EPA (2012)
Chantal and Mike sackett owns a piece of land in a residential area sited near priest lake, Idaho. In the month of April and May 2007, the couple filled half of the cot with dirt and rocksin preparation to start building a house. In the same year on November, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States of America issued the couple with an order of compliance which alleged that some of the parts of the land were a wetland according to the Clean Water Act and any activity carried on violated the law without seeking for permit from the CWA (James, 2011). The compliance order stated that the couple should remove the filings on the parcel to its original condition failure to which they could be subjected to a fine of not less than 37500 dollars per day. The Sacketts sought a hearing with EPA to challenge the finding but they were denied. They went far ahead to file a suit in the district court seeking injunctive and declaratory relief.
The issues that the court had to decide on were: -
* Whether the land was on Wetland in accordance to Clean Water Act finding.
* Inability of the Sackett to seek relief from the court after the EPA issued a compliance order.
* Whether the Sackett could obtain the Wetlands permit from the CWA and continue with the construction.
* Determine if CWA could preclude review of compliance orders before the EPA had started enforcing their actions.
The law did allow the court to hear the case before the EPA filed the lawsuit enforce the compliance order. The court also had to ascertain legally arbitrary and capriciousness...