Samuel Alito on Environment Supreme Court Justice (nominated by Pres. George W. Bush 2005)

Citizens can only sue under CWA if they suffered injury

ALITO: You have to have a plaintiff who has suffered injury in fact. And the plaintiffs in that case had not even alleged personal injury. They alleged that they enjoyed the Delaware River in a variety of ways. They walked along the canal path, they ate fish from the river, they drank water from the river. But there was no evidence that the discharges into a creek some distance upstream from the river had had any effect whatsoever on the river and, therefore, there was nothing to support a claim that they were personally injured by the discharges of this plant.

Ruling on standing is not ruling against the environment

ALITO: It's a constitutional principle.

SESSIONS: It does not have to do with whether you were for or against the environmental issue in question but simply whether the person bringing the suit was a legitimate person to bring that suit.

ALITO: That's right. And it doesn't have anything to do with Congress' power to regulate the environment under the commerce clause. That's a separate question. One has to do with the scope of congressional power; the other has to do with who can bring the suit.

SESSIONS: And with regard to environmental cases, you have authored six environmental opinions; and you sided with the environmental regulatory body in five of those six opinions. Indeed, Professor Cass Sunstein said this about you, "This is a judge who, if the text is pro-environment, he's very likely to follow it."

Required proof that pollution from companies damaged water