Amicus Curiae Brief — Rapanos v. United States
Supreme Court brief2005
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SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT
Following enactment of the Clean Water Act
(“CWA”), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”)
dutifully applied its jurisdiction under Section 404 of the
statute by regulating direct pollutant discharges into
navigable waterways. Over time, without any additional
congressional grant of authority and despite this Court’s
rulings in Riverside Bayview and SWANCC, the Corps has
extended its jurisdiction further and further inland to
encompass an expanding range of non-navigable “waters”
and remote hydrologic features. This jurisdictional
metamorphosis continued into 2001, when the Corps’
interpretation of its delegated authority extended to
virtually any water-bearing topographic feature. This
Court was compelled to intervene. The Court explained
that federal jurisdiction under the CWA is not limitless
and that the Corps could not regulate non-navigable
features lacking a significant nexus or inseparable tie to
navigable waters.
Nonetheless, just five years later, the Corps has
disregarded this Court’s instructions and continues to
assert jurisdiction over countless non-jurisdictional
features, most often :emote, intrastate, non-adjacent
wetlands, manmade ditches, and other ephemeral seeps.
This illegitimate expansion of federal jurisdiction is
wreaking havoc on legitimate land development. The
Corps has refused to issue regulations shedding light on its
perception of the scope of proper federal jurisdiction. As
a result, assertions of this jurisdiction vary widely among
the 38 individual Corps district offices. Faced with this
regulatory uncertainty, private and public property owners
are left with little choice but to submit to the Corps’
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extravagant claims of jurisdiction and endure the costly
and protracted Section 404 permitting program.
In light of this Court’s decisions over the scope of
federal jurisdiction, the Corps’ persistent regulation of
remote wetlands and ephemeral trenches is wrong. These
intrastate features are far removed from any jurisdictional
waters, and they lack a significant nexus to navigable
waterways. The very nature of these remote features
renders them ecologically incapable of influencing distant
navigable waters as the CWA intends and this Court
requires. There is simply no basis in science and law for
extending fedefal jurisdiction to these features.
Recognizing the constitutional constraints on its
authority under the Commerce Clause, Congress expressly
designed the CWA to preserve the States’ longstanding
authority over intrastate uses of land and water resources.
Despite the Corps’ ongoing encroachment into the state
regulatory domain, the States can, and do, fully reguiate
the remote features at issue here. Such comprehensive
State regulation renders the Corps’ unauthorized assertions
of federal jurisdiction unnecessary and duplicative. The
Corps has trespassed into an area intended to remain
within the province of the States, confounding otherwise
effective state regulation and undermining legitimate
upland development.
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ARGUMENT
I. BY INTERPRETING ITS REGULATIONS TO
CIRCUMVENT SWANCC AND REACH NON-
JURISDICTIONAL FEATURES, THE CORPS
CONTINUES TO IMPOSE UNAUTHORIZED
AND ARBITRARY LIMITATIONS ON
UPLAND DEVELOPMENT.
Congress enacted the Clean Water Act to address the
impacts of pollutants on the navigable waters of the
United States. 33 U.S.C. § 1251, et seg. The Act was
designed to restore and maintain these waters by
eliminating pollutant discharges into them. /d. § 1251.
Since its enactment nearly 35 years ago, this ambitious
statute has made significant strides toward achieving its
goals. This progress has resulted from regulating the
pollutant sources that discharge into navigable waters.
But in the course of this progress, the regulated
_ community has experienced escalating difficulty with the
CWA’s other regulatory mechanism, the Section 404
program for discharges of dredged or fill material.
In Section 404 of the CWA, Congress assigned to the
'~~ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the responsibility of
regulating these discharges of dredged or fill material,
which may degrade the water quality of navigable
waterways and interfere with the conduct of interstate
commerce. /d. § 1344. Originally, the Corps embraced
its delegated authority by faithfully administering the
Section 404 permitting program to control pollutant
sources discharging directly into navigable waters. H.
Michael Keller, Waters of the United States (How Many
Drops Does it Take), in Water Quality & Wetlands Paper
No. 3, 3-11 (Rocky Mt. Min. L. Fdn. 2002). Over time,
though, the Corps expanded its interpretation of the scope
of federal jurisdiction under Section 404. /d. In addition
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to regulating discharges directly into navigable waters, the
Corps initiated a new policy of asserting jurisdiction over
discharges into wetlands adjacent to these navigable
waters. /d. This expansion led to considerable
controversy among the Corps, the States, and
governmental as well as private landowners. Continued
disputes over federal regulation presented this Court with
its first opportunity to review the scope of the Corps’
jurisdiction to regulate discharges of pollutants into
navigable waters.
A. The Supreme Court Has Determined That Federal
Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Does Not Extend to
Remote Hydrologic Features.
In United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc.,
474 U.S. 121 (1985), this Court acquiesced to the Corps’
assertion of jurisdiction over adjacent wetlands. The
Court determined that expanding federal jurisdiction to
reach wetlands adjacent to navigable waters is not
“unreasonable” so long as the “adjacent wetlands [] are
inseparably bound up with the ‘waters’ of the United
States.” Jd. at 134, 135. The Court relied on the Corps’
conclusion that adjacent wetlands “tend to drain into”
abutting navigable waters and that they therefore may
influence the water quality of those adjacent waters. Jd. at
134. Thus, the Court concluded that the Corps’
? The property at issue in Riverside Bayview contained a
wetiand “characterized by saturated soil conditions and wetland
vegei ation [that] extended . . . to Black Creek, a navigable waterway.”
Riverside Bayview, 474 U.S. at 131. Based on these hydrologic
characteristics and the location of the disputed area, the Court found
that the wetland was “adjacent to a navigable waterway” and
therefore “is part of the ‘waters of the United States’ as defined by”
Corps regulations. /d.
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interpretation that “waters of the United States” extended
to those adjacent wetlands was a “permissible”
construction of the statute. /d. at 135.
Following Riverside Bayview, the Corps increasingly
stretched its jurisdiction to reach non-navigable “waters”
of the United States. By 1986, without any additional
_ grant of authority from Congress, the Corps had
repeatedly expanded its definition of “waters of the United
States” to include not only navigable waters and adjacent
wetlands but also: “all other waters such as intrastate . . .
streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats,
sandflats, [and] sloughs . . . the use, degradation or
destruction of which could affect interstate or -foreign
commerce”; “all impoundments” of these waters; any
“tributaries” of these waters; and any wetland adjacent to
any of these non-navigable waters. See 33 C.F.R. § 328.3
(1986). Moreover, the Corps declared that this expansive
definition of “waters of the United States” established the
“jurisdictional limits of the authority of the [Corps] under
_ the Clean Water Act.” 33 C.F.R. § 328.1 (1986).
But the Corps did not limit its newly inflated
jurisdiction to only the extensive number of faint,
ephemeral rivulets trickling within each state; it also
interpreted: federal jurisdiction to reach isolated intrastate
waters “[w]hich are or would be used as habitat by”
migratory birds. Final Rule for Regulatory Programs of
the Corps of Engineers, 51 Fed. Reg. 41206, 41217 (Nov.
13, 1986). When the Corps applied this “Migratory Bird
Rule” to regulate several municipalities’ activities, which
would have impacted some abandoned sand and gravel
pits that had filled with water, the municipalities
challenged the rule, and this Court took the opportunity to
curb the Corps’ administrative spraw].
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In Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U.S. 159, 174 (2001)
(“SWANCC”), this Court ruled that construing the
definition of “waters of the United States” to encompass
isolated, intrastate waters that serve as habitat for
migratory birds “exceeds the authority granted to [the
Corps] under § 404(a) of the CWA.” The Court found that
although CWA jurisdiction may extend beyond waters that
are traditionally “navigable,” such waters are only
jurisdictional when they are “inseparably bound up with”
Or maintain a “significant nexus” to traditional navigable
waters. /d. at 167, 172. “It was the significant nexus
between the wetlands and ‘navigable waters’ that
informed our reading of the CWA in Riverside Bayview
Homes.” Id. at 167. Nonetheless, because Riverside
Bayview addressed only adjacent wetlands, its holding did
not apply to the remote, intrastate, non-adjacent features at
issue in SWANCC. Id. (quoting Riverside Bayview, 474
U.S. at 131-32, n.8). The Court then explained, that “[i}n
order to rule for the [Corps] here, we would have to hold
that the jurisdiction of the Corps extends to ponds that are
not adjacent to open water.” Jd. at 168 (emphasis in
original). The Court concluded that “the text of the statute
will not allow this” and struck down the Migratory Bird
Rule as an impermissible expansion of the Corps’
jurisdiction to reach such remote features. /d.
B. The Corps Ignores the Limitations Placed on
Its Authority by Continuing to Regulate Remote,
Non-Jurisdictional Features.
If there was any lasting import to this Court’s
insistence on a significant nexus or an inseparable tie
between navigable waters and non-navigable intrastate
features, the regulated community has not experienced it.
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Despite the guidance over Section 404 jurisdiction
provided in Riverside Bayview and SWANCC, the Corps
has disregarded these decisions.’ Although the Corps
recognizes that SWANCC “has affected the scope of
federal jurisdiction under the CWA” and that the decision
has “important implications for the scope of waters
protected wy the section 404 program, as well as
implications for other Clean Water Act programs whose
jurisdiction depends upon the meaning of ‘navigable
waters,’” the agency refuses to update its regulations to
reflect the proper jurisdiction this Court delineated in
SWANCC. Hearing on Inconsistent Regulation of
Wetlands and Other Waters: Before the Subcomm. on
Water Res. and Env't, House Comm. on Transp. and
Infrastructure, 108th Cong. 4-5, 11 (2004) (statement of
John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Sec’y of the Army for
Civil Works, & Benjamin H. Grumbles, Acting Assistant
Adm’r for Water, EPA). Rather than adopting valid
administrative regulations clarifying the proper scope of
federal CWA jurisdiction under Section 404, the Corps
issued a non-binding internal guidance document calling
on its district offices to maintain the status quo. See
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Clean
Water Act Regulatory Definition of “Waters of the United
> The Corps is not alone in reading the “significant nexus”
test out of SWANCC. Certain federal circuit and district courts have
joined the Corps in circumventing the import of the decision. See,
e.g., United States v. Deaton, 332 F.3d 698, 702, 707, 712 (4th Cir.
2003) (upholding assertion of federal jurisdiction over intrastate, non-
navigable roadside ditches and nearby wetlands because “[a]ny
pollutant or fill material” entering those remote, ephemeral features
could possibly travel to and affect navigable waters seven miles
away).
1]
States,” 69 Fed. Reg. 1991 app. A, at 1996-98, n.1 (Jan.
15, 2003) (“Joint Memorandum”’).
The Corps’ non-binding guidance strips the substance
from SWANCC. While cautioning the districts to avoid
relying solely on the Migratory Bird Rule when expanding
jurisdiction to isolated intrastate waters, the guidance
openly advocates for the continued assertion of
jurisdiction over the same suite of hydrologic features that
were alleged to fall under the Corps’ jurisdiction prior to
SWANCC. Id. As support for preserving federal
jurisdiction over virtually every remote, intrastate, non-
adjacent hydrologic feature in the nation, the Corps falls
back on Riverside Bayview and pretends SWANCC never
happened. /d. at 1997, 1998. Although a unanimous
Court in Riverside Bayview emphasized that.its analysis
applied only to wetlands adjacent to navigable waters — a
fact which even the Corps has conceded — the Corps
responded to SWANCC by hastily issuing its guidance
emasculating the Court’s latest assessment of the CWA
and reconstruing the import of Riverside Bayview. This
guidance claims that “the reasoning in Riverside .. .
supports jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent to non-
navigable waters that are tributaries to navigable waters”
and authorizes the assertion of federal jurisdiction over
“all interstate waters, and all tributaries to navigable or
interstate waters, upstream to the highest reaches of the
tributary systems, and over all wetlands adjacent to any
and all of those waters.” Jd. at 1997; Memorandum from
Gary S. Guzy, General Counsel, EPA, & Robert M.
Andersen, Chief Counsel, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Supreme Court Ruling Concerning CWA Jurisdiction over
Isolated Waters 5, n.7, 6 (Jan. 19, 2001) (emphasis added).
In other words, federal jurisdiction remains virtually
limitless, encompassing the most remote manmade ditch,
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the most ephemeral swale, the most obscure depression.
The Corps has not adapted its practices to square with this
Court’s jurisprudence, but rather, it has adapted this
Court’s jurisprudence to square with its practices.
C. The Corps’ Post-SWANCC Administration of the
Section 404 Program Is Replete with Examples of
Unlawful Assertions of Federal Jurisdiction.
Post-SWANCC administrative appeals decisions from
Corps district offices across the country illustrate the
extent of the Corps’ continued unauthorized regulation of
remote, non-adjacent wetlands and distant ephemeral
trenches. These appeals demonstrate that the Corps’
regulation is not only excessive and irrational; it also
regularly disrupts legitimate upland development and
critical public infrastructure projects.‘
Examples of such unlawful assertions of Corps
jurisdiction abound. Shortly after SWANCC was decided,
* The eight Corps division offices that oversee individual
district offices within a particular region provide these administrative
appeals decisions for public review on the divisions’ websites. See
Great Lakes & Ohio River Division - Table of Appeals,
http://www. ird.usace.army.mil/regulatory/appealprocess/, Mississippi
Valley Division - Table of Appeals, http://www.mvd.usace.army.
mil/Nwsinfo/MVD_Appeals/appeal.htm; North Atlantic Division -
Table of Appeals, http://www.nad.usace.army.mil/appeals.htm;
Northwestern Division - Table of Appeals, http://www.nwd.usace.
army.mil/et/reg/appeals.asp; Pacific Ocean Division - Table of
Appeals, http://www.pod.usace.army.mil/Regulatory/Regulatory.
htm; South Atlantic Division - Table of Appeals,
http://www.sad.usace.army.mil/regulatory/regulatory.htm; South
Pacific Division - Table of Appeals, http://www.spd.usace.army.
mil/cwpm/public/ops/regulatory/adminA ppeals/index .htm;
Southwestern Division - Table of Appeals, http://www.swd.usace.
army.mil/../regulatoryappeals/index htm.
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the Corps’ Los Angeles District extended federal
jurisdiction to a “desert wash” simply because the property
at issue was “at a higher elevation” than surrounding
areas, and the District assumed that water from the wash
“must flow down gradient and therefore must reach” an
ephemeral drainage over 1,000 feet away, even though the
District conceded that no morphological connection
existed between the two features. MolyCorp Inc.
Property, Los Angeles Dist. File No. 200001678-AJS at 7-
9 (Aug. 16, 2001) (admin. appeal).°
The San Francisco District attempted to assert
jurisdiction over wetlands separated from drainage
channels by 250 feet of manmade uplands because the
wetlands were within “reasonable proximity” of the
channels to establish adjacency. Baccarat Fremont
Developers, San Francisco Dist. File No. 23205S at 5
(Oct. 25, 2001) (admin. appeal). The District reasoned
that site topography indicated that the wetlands could
drain into the channels during storm events if the uplands
had not been there to prevent such drainage. /d.
The Sacramento District contended that federal
jurisdiction reached a small wetland area in Colorado that
during large storm events periodically flowed offsite
through a vegetated drainage until it reached a golf course
* The same District claimed jurisdiction over another desert
wash, which occasionally emptied into a manmade water retention
basin, which was “drained by a 60 foot long, 6 inch diameter
underground culvert,” which connected to a channel that meandered
through residential areas and became “indistinct at several locations
... where [it] follows or crosses paved surfaces.” The District alleged
that “[t}hese road crossings act as conduits of the water and maintain
the tributary connection.” Sunrise Office Park, Los Angeles Dist.
File No. 2001-00379-RJD at 3 (Sept. 7, 2001) (admin. appeal).
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fairway, crossed the grass fairway as undefined sheet flow,
entered a 6 inch pipe, traveled underground for several
hundred feet, then drained into a manmade roadside ditch,
which meandered for over one mile before reaching a
river. The Biggers Property, Sacramento Dist. File No.
200275257 at 3-4 (Dec. 19, 2003) (admin. appeal).°
Based on its review of a 1949 U.S. Geological Survey
map, the New York District claimed jurisdiction over
wetlands even though it admitted during a site visit that
there was no identifiable hydrologic connection between
those wetlands and unrelated onsite tributaries. Lands of
David Fusco, New York Dist. File No. 2000-01007-YN at
2-4 (Dec. 5, 2003) (admin. appeal). The District
nonetheless alleged that jurisdiction was proper because,
according to the map, the wetlands “‘appear to be part of a
wetland complex that was associated with an unnamed
tributary to [a named tributary]’ that was ‘located in the
proximity of these wetlands.’*” /d. at 3 (emphasis in the
original).’
* Similarly, the Baltimore District attempted to assert
jurisdiction over an “ephemeral channel” that drained offsite until it
reached an upland agricultural area and disappeared; the ephemeral
channel was “separated from [any] jurisdictional areas by at least 600
feet of non-jurisdictional areas.” Irvine Nature Center, Baltimore
Dist. File No. 02-63179-4 at 1-2 (Mar. 5, 2004) (admin. appeal); see
also Frank Attanasio, Philadelphia Dist. File No. 199900072-46 at 9
(Mar. 5, 2004) (admin. appeal) (asserting jurisdiction over wetland
based on alleged historic hydrologic connection that no longer existed
but explaining that “[g]jiven the heavy usage of the site by children for
recreational purposes, it is entirely reasonable the ditch may have
been disturbed beyond recognition”).
” Likewise, the Los Angeles District attempted to assert
jurisdiction over a desert wash that, prior to 1952, may have had a
hydrologic connection to another wash. Although the District
conceded that any connection “disappeared some time after 1952,”
(Continued ...)
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D. The Corps’ Refusal to Respect the Bounds of
Federal Jurisdiction Has a Substantial and
Inequitable Impact on Development.
As the above examples demonstrate, the Corps
continues to exercise its jurisdiction over remote, non-
navigable wetlands and distant, ephemeral trenches,
usually with inexplicable and inconsistent results. The
unpredictability currently tainting the Corps’ jurisdictional
determinations has substantial and inequitable impacts on
property development and _ critical infrastructure
improvements, which are already subject to the full
panoply of state and local regulation.
Negotiating the Section 404 permitting program
involves a major logistical undertaking for property
Owners. It requires immense expenditures of both time
and capital resources. As one study recently explained, it
takes applicants an average of 788 days to obtain an
individual Section 404 permit. D. Sunding & D.
Zilberman, The Economics of Environmental Regulation
by Licensing, 42 Nat. Resources J. 59, 74-76 (2002). This
protracted process carries an average price tag of over
$271,000, not including the opportunity costs and delay-
related costs accrued during the two years required to
complete the process. /d. Nor does this average cost
account for the increased financial burdens accompanying
the growing regulatory uncertainty that now typifies the
(Continued ...)
and the administrative record contained no evidence that any
connection ever existed, the District deemed the wash jurisdictional
based on the alleged “historical tributary connection.” Valley Vista
Property, Los Angeles Dist. File No. 2002-001321-SMD at 2-4 (Jan.
31, 2003) (admin. appeal).
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Corps’ jurisdictional determinations. See id. at 82. Such
uncertainty requires owners to “carry capital and bear
labor and other operating expenses for longer periods of
time.” /d. Consequently, they incur increased borrowing
costs due to the need for additional capital and higher
interest rates. Jd.
Moreover, in the absence of suitable agency guidance
defining the proper scope of the Corps’ jurisdiction over
non-navigable, non-adjacent wetlands and manmade
trenches, the 38 Corps districts implementing Section 404
permitting have been forced to interpret the pre-SWANCC
regulations to determine whether CWA _ jurisdiction
extends to these remote features. See U.S. General
Accounting Office, Waters and Wetlands: Corps of
Engineers Needs to Evaluate its District Office Practices
in Determining Jurisdiction, GAO-04-297, 3-4, 17-25
(Feb. 2004). As a result, while the districts generally
continue to employ the same processes and data sources as
they did prior to SWANCC to make jurisdictional
determinations (“JDs”), their interpretations of the scope
of federal jurisdiction over non-navigable, non-adjacent
wetlands and related ephemeral drainages vary widely,
resulting in a nationwide patchwork of contradictory, often
overreaching Corps practices and assertions of federal
jurisdiction. See id. at 17-25 (discussing the districts’
varying JD practices based on hydrologic connections,
proximity to navigable waters, upland barriers, tributaries,
and ditches); see also U.S. General Accounting Office,
Waters and Wetlands: Corps of Engineers Needs to Better
Support Its Decisions for Not Asserting Jurisdiction,
GAO-05-870, 14-15 (Sept. 2005) (finding similar
procedures among districts for conducting JDs, but noting
the differing policies used for determining jurisdiction).
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Given the absurdity of trying to apply the Corps’.
opaque post-SWANCC guidance, it is hardly surprising
that such wide-ranging inconsistency has developed
among the district offices. However, the effects of the
Corps’ confusion and of the resulting inconsistent
practices extend far beyond the district offices.* It is the
property Owner and project manager that bear the burden
of the Corps’ illegitimate practices because it is impossible
to predict with any reasonableness whether and to what
degree a particular district will extend jurisdiction over
any remote, ephemeral features that could be impacted by
onsite activity.’ The Corps’ informal guidance further
exacerbates the confusion by instructing each district
office to conform JDs to subsequent federal court
* The muddled application of CWA jurisdiction among the
district offices has produced a similarly muddled application of CWA
jurisdiction among the federal district courts and circuit courts. See
Joint Memorandum, supra at 1996-98 (summarizing the many
inconsistencies among the lower federal courts). Apparently taking
their cue from the Corps’ distorted rendition of this Court’s direction
in Riverside Bayview and SWANCC, many — but not all — of the
federal courts have disregarded the jurisdictional boundaries
articulated in those decisions. See Petitioners’ Carabell et a/. Pet. for
Cert. at 8-13 (surveying various federal court opinions addressing the
Corps’ jurisdiction).
* Courts have found that, in addition to landowners,
contractors and consultants are also liable for discharging pollutants
without a permit. See United States v. Bd. of Trs. of Fla. Keys Comm.
Coll., 531 F. Supp. 267, 274 (S.D. Fla. 1981) (finding both the
landowner and the contractor liable, where the contractor was
responsible for discharge but the owner was responsible for obtaining
CWA permits); see also United States v. Weisman, 489 F. Supp.
1331, 1333-34 (M.D. Fla. 1980) (holding liable a consultant who
designed a road project, applied for a Section 404 permit, and
communicated with the Corps about the project but did not order
discharge activity and was not present when the discharge occurred).
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decisions concerning the scope of jurisdiction within the
respective district. Joint Memorandum, supra at 1992.
This policy, when applied to the districts’ already
divergent interpretations of their jurisdiction over non-
navigable, non-adjacent features, has created a self-
sustaining cycle of JDs made by a district, leading to
federal court review of the asserted jurisdiction, leading to
revised interpretations of CWA jurisdiction within the
district. See id. at 1996-98 (detailing the many
inconsistent judicial interpretations of federal jurisdiction
over remote features).
Without the benefit of consistent and proper JDs for
true interstate, adjacent features, citizens must incur the
additional costs of the Section 404 program, regardless of
whether there are actually jurisdictional features located
on a development site or not. In light of the grueling
consequences amici firms and other citizens face if they
unsuccessfully attempt to divine a district office’s
rendition of federal jurisdiction, they are left with little
choice but to submit to the Section 404 process and incur
the delays and high costs (not to mention the uncertainty)
that accompany it.'°
'° The Clean Water Act carries strict civil liability provisions,
under which violations are punishable with daily fines topping
$32,500 each. 33 U.S.C. § 1319(d); Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation
Adjustment Rule, 69 Fed. Reg. 7121, 7125 (Feb. 13, 2004). The
statute also impdses severe criminal penalties for violations, including
prison terms of one to six years and fines of up to $100,000 per day.
33 U.S.C. § 1319%(c).
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Il. EXTENDING FEDERAL JURISDICTION TO
REMOTE, INTRASTATE, NON-ADJACENT
FEATURES IS INCONGRUENT WITH
a. THE CLEAN WATER ACT’S
GOALS.
Despite the Corps’ continued assertion of federal
jurisdiction over remote, intrastate, non-adjacent wetlands
_and drainages following SWANCC, these features do not
fall within the ambit of federal authority. Manmade
ephemeral trenches are neither wetlands nor waters. And
while the wetland features may satisfy the regulatory
criteria for “wetlands” as defined by the Corps, they lack
the capacity to influence the integrity of navigable waters,
even when connected to an ephemeral drainage. As a
result, these features do not factor into the legislative
design of the CWA and are not subject to federal
regulation.
A. Congress Designed the Clean Water Act to
Regulate Discharges That Impact the Integrity of
Navigable Waters.
Congress designed the CWA “to restore and maintain
the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the
Nation’s waters.” 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a). To achieve this
objective, the legislature set a national goal of eliminating
“the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters.” /d.
§ 1251(a)(1). Significantly, Congress also expressed the
concomitant goal “to recognize, preserve, and protect the
primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent,
reduce, and eliminate pollution, [and] to plan the
development and use. . . of land and water resources.” /d.
§ 1251(b). These two goals, together with the Section 404
permitting program for the “discharge of dredged or fill
material into the navigable waters,” provide the
framework on which this Court relies to evaluate the
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proper scope of federal jurisdiction over non-navigable
hydrologic features. See, e.g., Riverside Bayview, 474
U.S. at 132-33 (evaluating the Corps’ authority over
adjacent wetlands “in light of the language, policies, and
legislative history of the Act”).
Applying this framework, this Court recognizes that
the federal government’s Section 404 authority
encompasses truly “navigable waters,” and that this
authority derives from Congress’ “traditional jurisdiction
over waters that were or had been navigable in fact or
which could reasonably be so made.” See SWANCC, 531
U.S. at 172. The Court also found that this analytical
framework justifies extending the Corps’ authority to
certain wetlands adjacent to navigable waters if these
features “play a key role in protecting and enhancing
water quality” and are therefore “inseparably bound up”
with the navigable waterways that the CWA aims to
protect. Riverside Bayview, 474 US. at 133-35.
Conversely, the Corps was prohibited from stretching its
reach to regulate intrastate, non-navigable, non-adjacent
features inhabited by migratory birds because these
features lack a “significant nexus” to, or are not
“inseparably bound up with,” navigable waters. See
SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 167-68.
As observed in Riverside Bayview and SWANCC,
adjacency may engender a significant nexus between non-
navigable features and navigable waters because it may
allow the features to have an external, offsite influence by
functioning “as integral parts of the aquatic environment.”
Id., Riverside Bayview, 474 U.S. at 134, 135. Among the
external effects the Court highlighted as integral to the
aquatic environment were the capacity “to filter and purify
water” discharging into navigable waters and the capacity
“to slow the flow of surface runoff . . . and thus prevent
21
flooding and erosion.” Riverside Bayview, 474 U.S. at
134. By performing these ecological functions, certain
adjacent wetlands may contribute to achieving the
legislative goal of preserving and maintaining the integrity
of navigable waters.
B. Because Remote, _ Intrastate, Non-Adjacent
Wetlands Lack the Capacity to Influence
Navigable Waters, They Are Not Subject to
Federal Jurisdiction.
Not every wetland is an adjacent wetland. In fact, a
great number of wetlands are not. Based solely on the
ecological functions highlighted in Riverside Bayview,
adjacent wetlands may exhibit a significant nexus with
navigable waters, which could confer federal jurisdiction
over the features. Yet, adjacent wetlands are but one of
many distinct classes of hydrologic features that fall under
the rubric of “wetlands.”'' This legal term simply
signifies that a feature exhibits the three morphological
attributes that separate wetlands from uplands—
hydrology, hydric soils, and hydrophytic vegetation. 33
C.F.R. §328.3(b); William J. Mitsch & James G.
Gosselink, Wetlands 584-87 (3d ed. 2000). Consequently,
the only absolute among the various classes of wetlands is
that they all exhibit these three criteria. But these criteria
merely describe what a wetland is, not what a wetland
does.
'' The Corps defines wetlands as “those areas that are
inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and
duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do
support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in
saturated soil conditions.” 33 C.F.R. § 328.3(b).
22
Wetland physiology, the functional aspect of
wetlands, is determined by a combination of external
factors. Theda Braddock, Wetlands: An Introduction to
Ecology, the Law, and Permitting 12 (1995). The
scientific community has “increasingly recognized that the
factors controlling the existence of a wetland as well as its
functions and values are largely determined by landscape
characteristics and the wetland’s position in the
landscape.” /d. at 24; see also Mark S. Dennison & James
F. Berry, Wetlands: Guide to Science, Law, and
Technology 61-65 (1993) (explaining that wetland
function depends on a variety of factors, including wetland
type, location, and hydrology). These external factors
interact in various manners, creating different classes of
wetlands with unique functional capacities. See generally
Dennison & Berry, supra, at 74-145 (describing different
characteristics and functions of fourteen separate wetland
classes). Because wetland function correlates directly to
the effects of each wetland on the outside environment,
and each wetland class represents a unique functional
scheme, it is understandable that the different classes of
wetlands influence the outside environment in different
ways. See Braddock, supra, at 12.
As this Court recognized in Riverside Bayview and
SWANCC, it is this external influence, specifically the
influence on navigable waters, that confers federal
jurisdiction over non-navigable hydrologic features.
Riverside Bayview, 474 U.S. at 134-35; SWANCC, 531
U.S. at 167-68. Due to their external influence, some of
these features may contribute to achieving Congress’ goal
of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and
biological integrity of navigable waters. Riverside
Bayview, 474 U.S. at 134-35. But features lacking the
functional capacity to influence the integrity of navigable
23
waters are incapable of furthering Congress’ goal. See
SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 167-68.
1. The Features at Issue Are Intrastate, Non-Adjacent
Wetlands and Trenches Far Removed from Any
Navigable Water.
The intrastate, remote wetlands and ephemeral
trenches at issue here are not adjacent to navigable waters.
Nor are they even close to any navigable waters. These
features do not perform the functions that the Corps so
often relies on to justify its expansion of federal
jurisdiction over other non-navigable features. Unlike
wetlands adjacent to navigable waters, these wetlands are
normally groundwater and direct precipitation-dependent.
See Dennison & Berry, supra at 87-123 (distinguishing
hydrologic sources for classes of adjacent wetlands from
hydrologic sources for classes of non-adjacent wetlands).
Their hydrology is primarily a product of proximity to the
underlying water table and regional climate, rather than as
a receiving body for up-gradient surface water discharges,
floodwater spillover, or backwater flooding. /d.
The most that may be said of these remote, intrastate
wetlands and ephemeral trenches is that they possibly bear
a tangential affiliation to some distant navigable waters.
However, this affiliation arises only if any water happens
to seep out of these wetlands, which generally lack fixed
outlets, traverse a labyrinth of manmade trenches or other
ephemeral and intermittent drainages, which are normally
dry, and eventually find its way to a navigable water.
Neither Congress nor any landowner would have
conceived that such property is somehow federalized.
While admittedly, if there is in fact a faint
“connection” between the distant wetlands and an offsite
24
manmade trench or other ephemeral seep, as Respondents
claim, the features could provide some minor, localized
ecological function. See Paul D. Cylinder, et ai.,
Wetlands, Streams, and Other Waters 10 (2004)
(explaining that ecological function of down gradient
drainages “is highly dependent” on external inputs). But
such function, even in the aggregate, hardly occurs with
the frequency, duration, or scale required to maintain a
“significant nexus”- or inseparable tie with distant
navigable waters. See Riverside Bayview, 474 U.S. at
133-35; SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 167-68. Put simply, any
functions of these solitary, intrastate features over which
the Corps claims to maintain jurisdiction are far too
remote, localized, and infrequent to fall within the federal
government’s authority.
2. Remote, Non-Adjacent Features Lack the Capacity to
Mitigate Flooding and Erosion in Navigable Waters.
Ari examination of the scientific evidence indicates
that, consistent with this Court’s observation in Riverside
Bayview, certain adjacent wetlands may help to reduce the
impacts of flooding and erosion in abutting navigable
waters by receiving floodwater overflow from these
waters and intercepting and retaining surface water
discharges before they enter navigable waters. Braddock,
supra, at 1?, Dennison & Berry, supra at 63. In this way,
adjacent . lands can mitigate the damage a flood causes.
This function is largely a product of their position in the
landscape on floodplains and in bottomlands, which
allows those wetlands to “store and attenuate flood waters
when streams or rivers overflow their banks.” See
Braddock, supra at 13. By storing floodwater overflow
and surface water discharges, these wetlands may also
dissipate the energy of floods and decrease the impacts of
25
downstream bank erosion in the flooding navigable
waterway. Dennison & Berry, supra at 63-65. But
Carabell and Rapanos bear no relationship to such
circumstances.
From an ecological perspective, the remote wetlands
and ephemeral trenches at issue here are in no way
analogous to the wetlands adjacent to navigable waters in
Riverside Bayview. Remote, intrastate wetlands play an
extremely minor and localized role in flood mitigation, if
they play any role at all. See Braddock, supra, at 13
(attributing the function of flood attenuation to floodplain
and bottomland features). Because these non-adjacent
features are not located in a floodplain of any sort, they are
incapable of reducing flooding by receiving water that
overtops the banks of rivers and streams, the primary
mechanism of flood abatement. Dennis W. Magee, A
Primer on Wetland Ecology, in Wetlands Law and Policy
44-45, 47-48 (2005); Mitsch & Gosselink, supra, at 584-
87. Any capacity to reduce flooding in navigable waters
derives from their capacity “to intercept storm runoff and
to store storm waters, thereby changing sharp runoff peaks
to slower discharges over longer periods of time.” Mitsch
& Gosselink, supra, at 584.
Despite the Corps’ claim to the contrary, there is no
indication that these wetlands perform these functions in
any consequential way, particularly when their only
external outlet is through manmade trenches and other
ephemeral seeps. See id. at 126-33 (noting while some
wetlands act as “water flow regulators for downstream
rivers,” others “have surface outflows that develop only
when their water stages exceed a critical level”). As
noted, these wetlands are often groundwater-driven and
direct precipitation-dependent systems. Many of these
features never, or only rarely, contain aboveground water
26
and their only external outlet is an ephemeral, manmade
trench or drainage—hardly indicative of being inundated
by or storing significant amounts of surface water runoff
or storm water flow. Robert J. Pierce, Ph.D., PWS, CWD,
Wetland Science Applications, Inc., Technical Principles
Related To Establishing the Limits of Jurisdiction for
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, 35-40, 60-61 (2003),
http://www. wetlandtraining.com/BobRept.pdf.
The location of adjacent wetlands within floodplains
and bottomlands also allows them to serve as buffers that
separate surface runoff sources from navigable waterways.
See Dennison & Berry, supra, at 65. By acting as buffers,
adjacent wetlands may decrease runoff velocity of surface
water flow before it is discharged. /d. This function
dissipates energy and reduces erosion. /d. at 63-65, 124.
But remote, non-adjacent wetlands are not located in these
areas and have an extremely limited capacity to act as
buffers or to store surface water. See id. at 90-100, 123-
25. As such, they have a limited capacity to reduce offsite
erosion and resulting downstream siltation.
3. Remote, Non-Adjacent Features Lack the Capacity to
Influence Water Quality of Navigable Waters.
Scientific studies also indicate, as this Court
recognized in Riverside Bayview, that the particular
functional scheme of adjacent wetlands may perform
ecological functions that influence water quality in
abutting navigable waters. See Riverside Bayview, 474
U.S. at 134-35. Studies have found that, under certain
conditions, wetlands adjacent to navigable waters have the
“capability to cleanse water through biogeochemical
transformation of various pollutants, particularly
nutrients.” Braddock, supra, at 12. Due to their
topographic position on floodplains and bottomlands and
mw
27
at the fringes of lakes, these wetlands serve as buffers to
neighboring navigable waters and help to reduce the
pollutant concentration of flows entering those waters.
Magee, supra at 40, 44-45, 47-48. Thus, certain wetlands
in these locations may influence adjacent navigable waters
by discharging water of a “higher quality” than the water
that originally entered the wetland. /d. at 40-41. Again,
Carabell and Rapanos bear no relationship to such
circumstances. ,
The remote wetlands and ephemeral trenches at issue
here do not normally provide this function because they
are not adjacent to any navigable water. Nor do they serve
as buffers to discharging surface waters. These features
are simply too far removed to influence the water quality
of navigable waters. Pierce, supra at 35-40, 60-61. In
addition to their remote, non-adjacent location, the
filtration capacity of these wetlands is also hampered by
their lack of surface water storage capacity. Along with
increasing the ability to mitigate downstream flooding, “a
wetland’s ability to store surface water is strongly
correlated with its capacity to modify water quality by
retaining, trapping, and transforming sediment and
contaminants.” Magee, supra at 43. Since remote
groundwater-driven and precipitation-dependent wetlands
have little surface water storage capacity, the ability of
these features to influence water quality is even further
limited. See generally Pierce, supra at 35-40, 60-61.
Ill. STATE REGULATION OF THESE REMOTE
FEATURES IS NECESSARY DUE TO
COMMERCE CLAUSE LIMITATIONS AND
PRAGMATIC BECAUSE THE STATES
ALREADY PROVIDE THIS REGULATION.
Because remote, intrastate, non-navigable, non-
adjacent wetlands and ephemeral manmade trenches are
28 '
generally incapable of influencing the integrity of
navigable waters, the Constitution of the United States
dictates that federal regulation of these features must yield
to state regulation. Otherwise, the Corps’ reach is
virtually infinite.
It is beyond dispute that “the grant of authority to
Congress under the Commerce Clause, though broad, is
not unlimited.” SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 173. As this Court
explained, there are but three “categories of activity that
Congress may regulate under its commerce power”: |) the
channels of interstate commerce (i.e., traditional navigable
waters); 2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, or
persons and things in interstate commerce; and 3)
activities that “substantially affect” interstate commerce.
SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 192-93 (Stevens, J. dissenting)
(quoting United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 558-59
(1995)). Federal regulation of remote, intrastate, non-
navigable wetlands and ephemeral trenches is analyzed
under the third category. See id. at 193 (analyzing in
dissent the Migratory Bird Rule under the substantial
effects test).
As discussed at length above, the natural and
manmade features at issue here do not influence the
integrity of navigable waters. The ecological incapacity of
these intrastate wetlands and manmade trenches to affect
the channels of interstate commerce indicates that they are
also incapable, even in the aggregate, of substantially
affecting such commerce. Consequently, these distant and
faint features cannot be subject to federal jurisdiction.
Congress recognized the constitutional constraints on
exercising federal authority over remote, intrastate, non-
navigable features. In drafting the Clean Water Acct,
Congress expressly preserved the traditional authority of
29
the States to control intrastate uses of land and water
resources and maintained “the primary responsibilities and
rights of the States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate
pollution.” 33 U.S.C. §1251(b). As explained in
SWANCC, inflating the scope of federal authority to reach
property that has only limited and localized ecological
functions, if any, violates the express legislative intent of
the CWA and marks “a significant impingement of the
States’ traditional and primary power over land and water
use.” SWANCC, 531 U.S. at 174. Congress intended the
States to regulate these remote features, and the States
have honored this intention.
The States can, and do, regulate the features at issue
here. In fact, already 47 States have adopted statutory or
regulatory programs that offer protection for intrastate
wetlands and waters. See Jeanne M. Christie, State
Wetland Programs (2005), http://www.aswm.org/swp/
statemainpage9.htm; Paul D. Cylinder, et al, supra at
101-13 (describing the water resource programs in each
state).'? These programs have been remarkably successful
at conserving remote, intrastate freshwater wetlands,
coastal wetlands, and ephemeral features not subject to the
Corps’ jurisdiction. See id. at 99-100, 116-23 (detailing
accomplishments of programs in California, Florida,
Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Washington);
see also Palazzolo v. Rhode Island, 533 U.S. 606 (2001)
(discussing wetland protections under Rhode Island law in
a takings challenge).
'? In the interest of brevity, the state statutory and regulatory
programs that offer protection of these intrastate features have not
been individually listed here. The cited sources describe each state’s
programs in detail.
30
Such comprehensive state regulation renders the
Corps’ illegitimate assertions of federal jurisdiction
unnecessary and duplicative. The Corps’ intrusive
practices only serve to confound effective state programs,
not to mention legitimate land development and public
infrastructure improvements already subject to rigorous
state and local environmental and land use regulation.
CONCLUSION
The amici International Council of Shopping Centers,
et al. respectfully request that this Court reverse the Sixth
Circuit’s rulings in Rapanos and Carabell upholding the
extension of federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction over
non-adjacent, non-navigable wetlands and drainages.
Respectfully submitted,
Gus Bauman
(Counsel of Record)
Fred R. Wagner
W. Parker Moore
Beveridge &
Diamond, P.C.
1350 I St, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 789-6000
December 2, 2005
a - [Supreme Cour U5, >)
(1 v} a FILED |
Nos. 04-1384, 04-1034 DEC 29 2005
Inu The
Supreme Court of the United States
¢
JUNE CARABELL, ET AL.,
Petit.oners,
Vv.
ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, ET AL.,
Respondents.
+
JOHN A. RAPANOS, ET AL.,
Petitioners,
v.
UNITED STATES,
Respondent.
+
On Writ Of Certiorari To The
United States Court Of Appeals
For The Sixth Circuit
Sf
AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF
CALVIN H. JOHNSON, PRO SE,
IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS
°
CALVIN H. JOHNSON
Amicus Curiae, pro se
727 East Dean Keeton Street
Austin, Texas 76705
(512) 232-1306
—
ae
— —_—
ee cna
QUESTION PRESENTED BY AMICUS CURIAE
Does the United States Army Corps of Engineers have
the constitutional power to protect wetlands and clean
water under the power “to provide for ... the general
Welfare” given by Article I, section 8, clause 1 of the
Constitution or must preservation of wetlands and clean
water be within the power to suppress and channel “com-
merce” in section 8, clause 3?
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Question Presented by Amicus Curiae ...................0.. i
Table of Short Form Citations.....................ccccccceeeeeee iv
Pe icc riniiibcincttneicticirnereihismewitiedctlaiilisarinatins vi
Interest of Ammons Curkas .........0.<cccccccccsscscocssocssosevees 1
eNO csicincsistuescsetsisiatchdiitiailpiiniicicidiie 1
- Argument:
I. Congress is empowered to protect wetlands
and water by the power to provide for the
Ie Cee icisniipnrcicacsideciticnatenaniedtinitodiniess 3
A. Original Intent of the Written Constitu-
GE sattveteatcecsvaisinnshicbindigtetitanipsénidininidgasiliabtiots 4
1. The Constitutional language “to pro-
vide for the general welfare” is syn-
onymous with the binding Resolution
allowing Congress to legislate in ail
cases for the general interest.............. 4
2. No distinction was allowed between
tax and regulation ..............-....s0-ses00-++ 8
3. The purpose of the Constitution was
not to limit the federal government,
US Bo ND FE Bi icncscccccncnccvoesceseccccceen 11
EATEN at a a eke en Te 12
B. The written Constitution does not limit
Congress to “expressly delegated” pow-
ers, notwithstanding claims to the con-
ED ccnctceenttnenitnvemnnniens ~dtntaniaieniiieicanenties 16
TABLE OF CONTENTS -— Continued
Page
1. There were erroneous claims that the
Congress is limited to “expressly
delegated” powerS..................:ssseseeeeeees 16
2. But there was no “expressly dele-
SRE Teme fae Cita ccccccsccccncccccvasctiocsece 18
3. Loose talk does not amend the Con-
i pinncinctictincnscicenensncisigaccitenbiiindene 19
4. The Tenth Amendment: No “expressly
BIEN HII cipssaistsdinteciventittinnssiveaiietiigien 21
5. “Expressly delegated” is court-made-
up doctrine, not originalism................ 22
6. “Expressly delegated” is partisan doc-
| ae spdeaiianiinebediiiaboewebiaiadnnsiatiedins 23
7. Close reading of the text refutes the
“expressly delegated” interpretation .... 25
II. The Original Commerce Clause................00+4+: 26
The commerce clause was written to allow
Congress to adopt a number of programs to
punish imports, grant monopoly franchises
and punish foreign shippers, all within the
then dominant economic philosophy of mer-
cantilism. No issue subjected to any debates
has any application to problems in the
twenty-first century.
A. Regulation of commerce meant first to
SUED incosecvipcditiandnntincnpdnascssssennemiinicnbaanhchtuns 27
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued
Page
B. Nontax regulation of commerce referred to
mean-spirited mercantilist programs that
were Never adopted. ............csssseseersecererenees 28
C. Interstate commerce was not a material
issue in the constitutional debates........... 28
| REDD PUREE oc ENED ine CRIA wo 30
TABLE OF SHORT FORM CITATIONS
Short Cite Full Cite
ANNALS ANNALS OF CONGRESS (Joseph Gale,
ed. 1834-1856).
DOCUMENTARY DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE
HISTORY RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION
(Merrill Jensen, John P. Kaminski &
Gaspare J. Saladino eds., 1976- ).
DEBATE ON THE THE DEBATE ON THE CONSTITUTION: .
CONSTITUTION FEDERALIST AND ANTIFEDERALIST
SPEECHES, ARTICLES, AND LETTERS
DURING THE STRUGGLE OVER RatTIFI-
CATION (Bernard Bailyn, ed., 1993).
ELLIOT’S DEBATES | DEBATES IN THE CONVENTIONS OF
THE SEVERAL STATES ON THE ADOP-
TION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
(Jonathan Elliot ed., 1907).
FARRAND’S RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITU-
RECORDS TION-OF 1787 (Max Farrand ed., rev.
ed. 1937). Citations are to Madison
notes unless otherwise noted.
v
TABLE OF SHORT FORM CITATIONS -— Continued
THE FEDERALIST THE FEDERALIST (Jacob E. Cooke ed.,
1961). Dates cited are to first ap-
pearance in New York newspapers.
THE FOUNDERS’ THE FOUNDERS’ CONSTITUTION
CONSTITUTION (Philip B. Kurland & Ralph Lerner,
eds., 1987).
JEFFERSON PAPERS | THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON
(Julian P. Boyd ed., 1950- ).
JCC JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS, 1774-1789, ed. (Wor-
thington C. Ford ed., 1904-37).
LETTERS OF DELEGATES TO CON-
GRESS, 1774-1789 (Paul H. Smith
et al. eds., 1976-2000).
PAPERS OF JAMES MADISON (William
T. Hutchinson & William M.E.
Rachal eds., 1962-1991).
THE WRITINGS OF JAMES MADISON
(Gaillard Hunt, ed. 1900-1910).
vi
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Page
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
2 8 | a are 2, 3, 8, 24, 25, 26
ET EE Sele Sab Set eT 22
CASES
McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316
RR ee ee ee 8, 22, 23
National Bank of Commerce v. Estate of Ripley, 161
Mo. 126, 131, 61 S.W. 587, 588 (1901)... 12
Nevada v. Skinner, 884 F.2d 445, 447 (9th Cir.
ES OER Ee Se 5. 16
South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203, 208 n. 2 (1987)
ee aL 16
United States v. Hudson and Goodwin, 11 U.S. 32
RS Ee eee ae aD 22, 23
PRIMARY SOURCES
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. .............ccecccceeececeees 5, 7, 24, 29
Bedford, Gunning, Motion of July 17, 1787, 2
ERTS ale ee 4
Boudinot, Elias, Speech io the House of Representa-
tives (Feb. 4, 1791), in 1 ANNALS 1975-1976 ................... 6
Brutus I, New York J. (Oct. 18, 1787), reprinted in
13 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY 414..............cccccccccceececeeees 9,18
Brutus I], NEw YorK J. (Nov. 1, 1787), reprinted in
13 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY 526.....................cccceccecceseeeees 19
Vii
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ~ Continued
Burke, Aedanus, Speech to the House of Represen-
tatives, Aug. 15, 1789, 1 ANNALS 774...............ccccceseeeeeee 22
Centinel [Samuel Bryan] 1, PHILADELPHIA INDE-
PENDENT GAZETTEER (OcT. 5, 1787), reprinted in
1 THE DEBATE ON THE CONSTITUTION 57 .............ccceceeeeeee 9
Centinel II, PHILADELPHIA FREEMAN’s J. (Oct. 24,
1787) reprinted in 13 DOCUMENTARY History 460... 19, 21
Cincinnatus I, Tb James Wilson, Esquire, NEW
YorK J. (Nov. 1, 1787) reprinted in 13 DocUMEN-
A Citizen of New York (John Jay), Address to the
People of the State of New York (April 15, 1787),
reprinted in 17 DOCUMENTARY History 111.................. 14
Convention Committee on Detail (July 24, 1787), in
ETE AL 6
Convention Report of the Committee of Eleven
(Sept. 4, 1787), in 2 FARRAND’s Recorps 497 ................. 7
Convention Resolution of July 24, 1787, in 2 Far-
EE Sy ee ee 4-5
Convention Resolutions Presented to the Commit-
tee of Detail, in 2 FARRAND’S RECORDS 131-32................ 4
Debate in Continental Congress (Feb. 20, 1783), in
EN RA RN A a 6
A Democratic Federalist, PENNSYLVANIA HERALD
(Oct. 17, 1787), reprinted in 13 DOCUMENTARY
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES - Continued
Dickinson, John, Report to the Pennsylvania
General Assembly (Jan. 20, 1783), in MINUTES OF
THE First SESSION OF THE SEVENTH GENERAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYL
Editorial, CONNECTICUT COURRANT (Dec. 24, 1787)
reprinted in 15 DOCUMENTARY HIsTORY 82 ..................-
Elisworth, Oliver, Debate in the Connecticut
Ratification Convention (Jan. 4, 1787) in 2 EL-
RRR AIRES eS
ONES cenrssteessicsnsecvarnacetietictanntiipincesntsiinennemmenscestaneemeees
SPEED cnnsssscmsncsedunnsinacasninensainatentiiiemnsssnisnsecenennnanetetes 10,
SREP cxnmsenserecaseessnmenmnespnntaneuniegiinigeinatiitepenrumreeansinepuscenetts
BURIED consesesecsessncsvessesnsstgpsemnabesiiiniaemtectmusensatgecemsenseessenenene
THE FEDERALIST No. 45, at 313 (Madison) (Jan. 26,
EEE, SR ee
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES — Continued
Page
THE FEDERALIST No. 46, at 317 (Madison) (January
tae chientesirendessinciiith epancaieatishaiinerctiabetaitininnlidn ait emia 15
THE FEDERALIST No. 85, at 593-94 (Hamilton) (May
TE ee NE. OO SE TRO 16
Gorham, Nathaniel, Speech before the Federal
Convention (July 23, 1787), in 2 FARRAND’S RE-
Oe cienpenmenipetinscsepinitiecictintaninenieipdiaatgienipanmtarnaben 10
Hamilton, Alexander, Speech to the New York
Ratification Convention, June 28, 1788 in 2
| ERIE ie EES aa 15
Jay, John, Letter of Secretary of Foreign Affairs to
John Paul Jones (Oct. 6, 1787) in 33 JCC 636.............. 10
Jefferson, Thomas, Letter to Albert Gallatin (June
16, 1817), in 12 JEFFERSON PAPERS 71-73............... 23, 24
Jefferson, Thomas, Letter to James Madison (Dec.
10, 1787), in 10 JEFFERSON PAPERS 439, 440. ............... 18
Johnson, Samuel, Letter to Stephen Mix Mitchell
(Aug. 25, 1786), in 23 LETTER OF DELEGATES 525......... 10
Lee, Richard Henry, Letter to Gov. Edmund
Randolph, PETERSBURG VIRGINIA GAZETTE (Dec.
6, 1787), reprinted in 14 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
Lowndes, Rawlins, Debate in the South Carolina
Legislature (Jan. 16, 1788), in 2 DEBATE ON THE
CONSTITUTION 22.............-ccccceseeeeseeeeees sebaneumneanatinstasaenees 10
Madison, James, Debate in the House of Represen-
tatives, 1 ANNALS 1945 (1791)..............cccccccccsoreeccesseeceee 17
Madison, James, Address to the People of Virginia
(Jan. 23, 1799), in 6 MADISON WriTINGS 333-36............ 17
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ~ Continued
Page
Madison, James, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (Feb.
4, 1790) in 16 JEFFERSON PAPERS 146, 150. .................. 11
Madison, James, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (Oct.
24, 1787), in 10 MADISON Papers 210, 211, 215, 3
Se cccnenccepitisnnancsctinihinctiatidiniseidhatitiiahittaaiatbtitais 10, 13, 15
Madison, James, Letter to Joseph C. Cabell (Sept.
18, 1828), in 9 MADISON WRITINGS 316, 334................. 10
Madison, James, Notes of the Continental Congress
Debates (Feb. 25, 1783), in 19 LETTERS OF DELE-
ON el cciitanarepeccnccintiiteccuisineisensiadiiddidietetenithtndssiimmnbtiataaiiiaes 6
Madison, James, Speech to Federal Convention
(Aug. 16, 1787), 2 FARRAND’S RECORDS 308................0+. 29
Madison, James, Speech to the House of Represen-
tatives, August 18, 1789, 1 ANNALS 790..............0:-0000+- 22
Madison, James, Speech to the Virginia Ratifica-
tion Convention (June 24, 1788), in 3 ELuior’s
RENESAS SE. TEES SS A 20
Madison, James, Memorandum not Used in Letter
of November 27, 1830, to Andrew Stevenson, in 2
THE FOUNDERS’ CONSTITUTION 458..............c0ccccccc0eeee 8, 24
Mason, George, Alterations Proposal (Aug. 31,
1787) in SUPPLEMENT TO MAX FARRAND’S THE
RECORDS OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION 25 (James
3 ESS ONE 13
Mason, George, Letter to John Mason (July 31,
1789), in 3 PAPERS OF GEORGE MASON 1164.................. 22
Monroe, James, Letter to Thomas Jefferson (Dec.
14, 1784), in 22 LETTERS OF THE DELEGATES 72.............. i]
xi
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES - Continued
An Old Whig II, PHILADELPHIA GAZETTEER (Oct. 17,
1787) reprinted in 13 DOCUMENTARY History 399,
Pinckney, Charles, Speech to the South Carolina
House of Representatives (Jan. 16, 1788) in 4
ID i eciececictpnccinsipibiinidiontcnetisampetonccssceses 17
Randolph, Edmund, Argument of the Attorney
General in Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. (2 Dallas)
SE eittcicnicnccinintesineittiiiaiitilitectnscenscctipiinerienenes 16
Randolph, Edmund, Debate in the Virginia Ratifi-
cation Convention (June 24, 1788), in 3 ELLIoT’s
IPOD chccsesnccactintsapnintensstnibebemescimeunibinerseceiiense 6
Randolph, Edmund, Draft of the Constitution
Presented to Committee on Detail, in 2 Far-
TETRIS SIR SA, CETTE SE TOTO 7,11
Randolph, Edmund, Reasons for Not Signing the
Constitution (Dec. 27, 1787) in 8 DOCUMENTARY
SERIE tp ecnosccnccssonseccasissadesbensencciitecetimasteneiessbeecescettes 13
Report of the Commissioners assembled at Annapo-
lis Convention, 31 JCC 680 (Sept. 20, 1786)................... 7
A Republican I: To James Wilson, Esquire, New
YorK J. (Oct. 25, 1787), reprinted in 13 Docu-
TREE A RS AS SO 18
Resolution of Congress, 32 JCC 74 (Feb. 21, 1787)............ 7
Rutledge, Edward, Speech to the Federal Conven-
tion, May 31, 1787, in 1 FARRAND’S RECORDS 53........... 13
ee Roger, Speeches to the Federal Conven-
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