Jackson Is the Right Choice for Supreme Court and the Environment

On Feb. 25, President Joe Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. As an organization that uses the power of the law to protect the environment, Earthjustice applauds Jackson’s nomination.

The Top Line: Jackson has demonstrated a commitment to upholding laws that protect our planet and its people

• Jackson is currently a federal judge in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The D.C. Circuit hears many environmental law cases, because it is often responsible for determining whether rules issued by federal agencies like the EPA are legal.
• Jackson’s environmental record reveals her ability to understand complex regulatory and statutory issues and appropriately apply the facts to the law.
• Government of Guam v. United States is one case that illustrates Jackson’s approach. She allowed Guam to move forward with a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy, which had created a polluting landfill on the island that was contaminating a nearby river and was refusing to pay cleanup costs.

Why It Matters: The Supreme Court plays a big role in the fight to safeguard the environment

• U.S. laws give people a legal right to clean air, clean water, a stable climate, and healthy ecosystems. We need justices who recognize that the federal government has an obligation to safeguard those rights for all people.
• The Supreme Court will help determine whether the government can take action on the most important issues of our time, from addressing climate change and upholding our right to clean air and water to safeguarding our right to vote.

What’s at Stake: The government’s ability to protect the environment and fight the climate crisis

• The nine-member Supreme Court is now comprised of a six-member majority of highly conservative justices who are on the precipice of overturning decades of long-settled precedents in a way that furthers a political agenda at the expense of our basic rights and protections.
• From the recent West Virginia v. EPA decision to an upcoming case on the Clean Water Act, the court seems interested in embracing legal doctrines that would significantly weaken bedrock environmental protections that have significantly improved our air and water.
• Jackson has a proven record of prioritizing facts, not politics, when making decisions.

What Happens Next: We urge the Senate to confirm Jackson as swiftly as possible

Says Earthjustice Senior Vice President of Programs Sam Sankar, “If you care about safeguarding clean air and water, protecting our wild places and wildlife, and making sure that Congress and the President have the authority to combat climate change and protect public health, you must care about this nomination and the integrity of our federal courts. We are confident that Judge Jackson will bring a much-needed perspective to one of our democracy’s most critical institutions.”