CLEAN WATER ACT ISSUES HIGHLIGHTED IN SOTOMAYOR HEARINGS
News Date July 21, 2009
The Clean Water Act played a prominent role in the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor last week.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) pressed President Obama’s nominee to the Court on whether she would defer to Congress in determining the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act.
Sotomayor pointed to her view that the Court should defer to Congress, saying, “My cases, my entire record shows that I look at the acts of Congress, as I think the Supreme Court does, with deference, because that is the bedrock of our constitutional system, which is that each branch has a different set of constitutional powers,”
Sotomayor was also asked by Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) about a case regarding the use of cost-benefit tests by EPA for discharge standards for cooling water intakes. Sotomayor ruled on Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper as judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision was overturned by the Supreme Court earlier this summer.
Specter asked Sotomayor, “Can we expect you to stand by your interpretation of the Clean Water Act when, if confirmed, you get to the Supreme Court and can make that kind of a judgment because you're not bound by precedent?”
Sotomayor responded that in the particular case, she would be “bound by precedent to the extent that all precedent is entitled to the respect…under the doctrine of stare decisis.” (Policy Contact: Nathan Bowen)