Environmental Law in the New Supreme Court

In the 2006 term the United States Supreme Court issued plenary decisions in four environmental cases. As is usually the case, all four environmental cases that reached the Supreme Court presented nuanced questions of statutory interpretation, most of which were intertwined with administrative law issues. The decisions this term are of unusual importance, as all have significant aspects, either practical, precedential, or attitudinal. Additionally, two of the cases exhibit the 5-4 cleavage, so common in this term\u27s decisions, in which Justice Kennedy is the outcome-determinative swing voter. On unusual occasions there are environmental cases decided by the Supreme Court that are of broader societal interest, and this term saw the decision of one such case