Manuel Lujan, JR., Secretary of the Interior v. Defenders of Wildlife, et al. (504 U.S. 555)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 12, 1992 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 504 U.S. 555 · 112 S. Ct. 2130
- Decided
- June 12, 1992
- Term
- October Term 1991
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, III-A, and IY, and an opinion with respect to Part III-B, in which The Chief Justice, Justice White, and Justice Thomas join. This case involves a challenge to a rule promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior interpreting § 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA), 87 Stat. 892, as amended, 16 U. S. C. § 1586, in such fashion as to render it applicable only to actions within the United States or on the high seas. The preliminary issue, and the only one we reach, is whether respondents here, plaintiffs below, have standing to seek judicial review of the rule. I The ESA, 87 Stat. 884, as amended, 16 U. S. C. § 1531 et seq., seeks to protect species of animals against threats to their continuing existence caused by man. See generally TVA v. Hill, 437 U. S. 153 (1978). The ESA instructs the Secretary of the Interior to promulgate by regulation a list of those species which are either endangered or threatened under enumerated criteria, and to define the critical habitat of these species. 16 U. S. C. §§ 1533, 1536. Section 7(a)(2) of the Act then provides, in pertinent part: “Each Federal agency shall, in consultation with and with the assistance of the Secretary [of the Interior], insure that any action authorized, funded, or carried out by such agency ... is not likely to jeopardize the…
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