Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, et al. v. Sweet Home Chapter of Communities for a Great Oregon et al. (515 U.S. 687)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 29, 1995 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 515 U.S. 687 · 115 S. Ct. 2407
- Decided
- June 29, 1995
- Term
- October Term 1994
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or Act), 87 Stat. 884,16 U. S. C. § 1631 (1988 ed. and'Supp. V), contains a variety of protections designed to save from extinction species that the Secretary of the Interior designates as endangered or threatened. Section 9 of the Act makes it unlawful for any person to “take” any endangered or threatened species. The Secretary has promulgated a regulation that defines the statute’s prohibition on takings to include “significant habitat modification or degradation where it actually kills or injures wildlife.” This case presents the question whether the Secretary exceeded his authority under the Act by promulgating that regulation. I Section 9(a)(1) of the Act provides the following protection for endangered species: “Except as provided in sections 1535(g)(2) and 1539 of this title, with respect to any endangered species of fish or wildlife listed pursuant to section 1533 of this title it is unlawful for any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to— “(B) take any such species within the United States or the territorial sea of the United States.” 16 U. S. C. § 1538(a)(1). Section 3(19) of the Act defines the statutory term “take”: “The term ‘take’ means to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such…
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