Seyfarth Partner Andrew H. Perellis is quoted in this Law360 expert analysis, High Court Water Case Could Put Target On Agencies' Backs (March 29, 2016).
The pending Supreme Court case, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. Inc. et al., no. 15-290, involves what constitutes a final agency action reviewable under the Administrative Procedure Act. We had previously blogged about this appeal, and its relation to Sackett v. EPA, 132 S. Ct. 1367 (2012). See our earlier blog on the Sackett decision. The case pertains to whether a "jurisdictional determination" regarding a wetland regulated by section 404 of the Clean Water Act is immediately reviewable in court. It is a follow-up case to the Supreme Court's 2012 Sackett decision holding at a compliance order issued under Section 404 is immediately reviewable.
The Law360 article notes that "landowners and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will square off Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court in a test of when exactly a party may challenge the Corps' determination that it has jurisdiction over a wetland — a case that could open government agency decisions up to more challenges across the board."
In the analysis, Perellis concludes that "one of the key considerations for the high court will be to what extent there are real, tangible consequences in terms of what the property owner can or cannot do with a property following the issuance of a jurisdictional determination."
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