Supreme Court weakens federal protections for wetlands under Clean Water Act.

The US Supreme Court has limited the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act, with a 5-4 majority continuing a trend in which the conservative-leaning court has narrowed the reach of environmental regulations. The decision is a victory for property rights advocates, but environmentalists warn that it will enable the destruction and pollution of millions of acres of wetlands that curb flooding and filter pollution. The Clean Water Act extends only to those “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are waters of the United States in their own rights,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.