FYI: Judiciary Update
Sixth Circuit Issues Temporary, Nationwide Stay on WOTUS
"This morning (Oct 9, 2015), the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing U.S. EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) from implementing the WOTUS rule while the court is reviewing the various legal matters surrounding the regulation. In the ruling, Judge McKeague said, “the stay temporarily silences the whirlwind of confusion that springs from uncertainty about the requirements of the new Rule and whether they will survive legal testing.”
The motion for the preliminary injunction was filed by 18 states. The 6th Circuit decision follows a preliminary injunction issued August 28 by the U.S. District Court for North Dakota. The judge in that case clarified on September 4 that the injunction only applied to the 13 states that were plaintiffs to that litigation. One of the reasons the district court failed to issue a nationwide injunction was out of deference to the 6th Circuit, where many, but not all, of the legal challenges to the WOTUS rule have been consolidated by the U.S Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.
The legal challenges surrounding the WOTUS rule will continue to be played out in the courts, but today’s ruling is a very positive first step because it means that the rule cannot be implemented or enforced for the time being."
