Elizabeth Mack, Chair of Locke Lord’s Finance, Banking and Real Estate Department and Firmwide Environmental Section, Comments on U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument in National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense in Law360

Elizabeth Mack, Chair of Locke Lord’s Finance, Banking and Real Estate Department and Firmwide Environmental Section, commented on the Obama-era Clean Water Act rule and whether the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if challenges to it belong in federal district or appellate courts. Mack noted: “I think if you look at the statute, it probably supports the Supreme Court reversing based on the plain language. And I think one of the reasons you saw three different opinions from the Sixth Circuit is because they were writing it for the Supreme Court.” She also said the justices will be faced with a choice between creating efficiency by keeping all challenges in one appellate court, and a more textual reading of the CWA that she said would not allow flexibility in interpretation merely for efficiency’s sake.

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