"When the Supreme Court returns from its winter recess, the justices will have an unusually heavy load of environmental cases to sift through — and potentially more to come.
What began as a sleepy term on environmental issues — with only an interstate water fight and an EPA records dispute on deck — has blossomed into a term filled with prominent pipeline, climate and biofuels battles. And the Supreme Court could soon choose to weigh in on a number of other pending matters, including the high-stakes kids' climate case, Juliana v. United States.
"Without question, there is no reluctance to take environmental cases," said John Cruden, a principal at Beveridge & Diamond PC and former head of the Justice Department's environment division.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court's newest member, has so far given few indications of how her addition to the bench could affect the outcome of environmental cases. The court's only environmental opinion so far this term hung on technical issues that are not typically decided along ideological lines."
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