By Glenn Sugameli, Staff Attorney, Judging the Environment
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens's retirement highlights just how much Americans rely on fair and independent judges to uphold and enforce laws that protect people and our environment.
Federal courts decide the fate of lawsuits that attack safeguards for clean air, clean water, endangered species, and special natural places.
Judges must uphold anti-pollution and conservation laws against unjustifiable claims that their enactment exceeded Congress' Commerce Clause authority, and that they take away non-existent "property rights" to pollute.
Environmental and other laws are seriously threatened by interlocking factors.
Continuing long-term right-wing and industry efforts try to redefine judicial selection and the nature and results of constitutional and statutory interpretation and rulings. Aggressive litigation attempts to rewrite laws and the Constitution in order to bar citizen access to court (while allowing polluters to sue) and to overturn environment, health and other laws.