A WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS!

I POSTED THIS EARLIER ABOUT AN AMERICAN FAMILY WHO FOUGHT BACK AGAINST THE EPA, ALL THE WAY TO THE SUPREME COURT... THEY WON!!

Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Army Corps of Engineers showed up on the site and ordered the couple to halt all activity.  It turns out the agencies suddenly declared the land in the new subdivision was a wetland.  Six months later they received a compliance order from the EPA informing them that the lot was a wetland and that they had to restore it back to its natural condition.  If they did not comply with the order, the EPA notice said that they could be fined up to $37,500 per day.

The Sacketts tried to appeal the order but were told by the EPA that decisions involving wetlands are not open to appeal.  They took their case to the courts and all of the courts up to the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that landowners had no right to appeal an EPA order involving wetlands until fines have been assessed.  The case then went to the US Supreme Court who just released their ruling on the case.

In the majority decision, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the Sacketts should have the right to file a civil suit against the EPA under the Administrative Procedures Act since the EPA order is a final one and that the couple were facing the huge fines.  He also wrote that the Clean Water Act, which is what the EPA was using to force the Sacketts to restore their property back to the original condition, is not exempt from judicial review.