Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 21-70282 · judgment July 31, 2023
Before the decision, about 2.2× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Ninth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).
Question presented
Congress designed the Clean Water Act (CWA or the Act) to ensure that anyone holding a discharge permit issued under the Act has notice of how much they must control their discharges to comply with the law. The CWA requires that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and authorized states provide this notice by prescribing specific pollutant limitations in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits they issue. Consistent with its text, this Court and the Second Circuit have read the Act to require EPA and states to develop specific limits to achieve goals for surface waters, called water quality standards. Parting with these decisions, the Ninth Circuit held here that EPA may issue permits that contain generic prohibitions against violating water quality standards. Rather than specify pollutant limits that tell the permitholder how much they need to control their discharges as required by the CWA, these prohibitions effectively tell permitholders nothing more than not to cause "too much" pollution. These generic water quality terms expose San Francisco and numerous permitholders nationwide to enforcement actions while failing to tell them how much they need to limit or treat their discharges to comply with the Act. The question presented is: Whether the Clean Water Act allows EPA (or an authorized state) to impose generic prohibitions in NPDES permits that subject permitholders to enforcement for exceedances of water quality standards without identifying specific limits to which their discharges must conform.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Tara Michelle Steeley
Office of the City Attorney
For respondent
Sarah M. Harris
Acting Solicitor General
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage · 10 merits
(5 supporting pet./neither, 5 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued October 16, 2024 — Tara M. Steeley · Frederick Liu. Audio and transcript
Decided March 4, 2025. Opinion by Alito.
Proceedings
- Apr 07 2025Judgment Issued.
- Mar 04 2025Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined, in which Gorsuch, J., joined as to all but Part II, and in which Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson, JJ., joined as to Part II. Barrett, J., filed an opinion dissenting in part, in which Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, JJ., joined.
- Oct 16 2024Argued. For petitioner: Tara M. Steeley, Deputy City Attorney, San Francisco, Cal. For respondent: Frederick Liu, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C
- Sep 25 2024Reply of petitioner City and County of San Francisco filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 03 2024Brief amici curiae of Environmental and Community Organizations filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 03 2024Brief amicus curiae of California filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 03 2024Brief amici curiae of Washington, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 03 2024Brief amici curiae of Small Business Owners and Operators filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 30 2024Brief amicus curiae of Orange County Coastkeeper filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 26 2024Brief of respondent Environmental Protection Agency filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 08 2024CIRCULATED
- Jul 29 2024Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
- Jul 29 2024Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The record is electronic and is available on PACER.
- Jul 26 2024SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
- Jul 26 2024Brief amici curiae of National Mining Association, et al. filed.
- Jul 26 2024Brief amici curiae of The National Association of Home Builders, et al. filed.
- Jul 26 2024Brief amici curiae of Public Wastewater and Stormwater Agencies and Municipalities filed.
- Jul 26 2024Brief amicus curiae of Hayden Area Regional Sewer Board filed.
- Jul 26 2024Brief amici curiae of Local Government Legal Center; et al. filed.
- Jul 19 2024Brief of petitioner City and County of San Francisco filed.
- Jul 19 2024Joint Appendix not accepted for filing(Duplicate version received). ( (July 23, 2024)
- Jul 19 2024Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
- Jun 04 2024Motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits granted. the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 19, 2024. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 26, 2024.
- May 30 2024Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- May 28 2024Petition GRANTED.
- May 20 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/23/2024.
- May 08 2024Supplemental brief of petitioners City and County of San Francisco filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 30 2024DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/16/2024.
- Apr 30 2024Reply of petitioner City and County of San Francisco filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 12 2024Brief of respondent Environmental Protection Agency in opposition filed.
- Mar 04 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including April 12, 2024
- Mar 01 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 13, 2024 to April 12, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 12 2024Brief amici curiae of National Mining Association, et al. filed.
- Feb 12 2024Brief amici curiae of Public Wastewater and Stormwater Agencies and Municipalities filed.
- Feb 08 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 13, 2024
- Feb 07 2024Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 12, 2024 to March 13, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 08 2024Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 12, 2024)