Challenges to Federal Acts

Question 1

Brandt Revocable Trust v United States (2013)

Answer 1

The Court found that the 1875 General Railroad Right-of-Way Act grants an easement for the railroad’s land. When the railroad company abandons the land, it should be settled as an easement and if the easement is abandoned, the easement disappears and the land reverts to the previous owner.

Question 2

Massachusetts v. EPA, Inc.; U.S. Supreme Court (2006)

Answer 2

The Court held that the EPA must provide a reasonable justification for why it would not regulate greenhouse gases.

Question 3

Rapanos v. United States; U.S. Supreme Court (2006)

Answer 3

The Court found that the Army Corp of Engineers must determine whether there is a significant nexus between a wetland and a navigable waterway.

Question 4

SD Warren v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection; U.S. Supreme Court (2006)

Answer 4

The Court found that hydroelectric dams are subject to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

Question 5

Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project Inc.; US Supreme Court (2015)

Answer 5

In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to evaluate whether disparate impact is the appropriate standard in which to evaluate the impact of the Fair Housing Act. Inclusive Communities Project claimed that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs was disproportionately granting tax credits to developments in minority neighborhoods and denying credits to developments within Caucasian neighborhoods. The Court held that Disparate impact is the appropriate standard to be applied to the Fair Housing Act. The result is that policies that even inadvertently relegate minorities to poor areas violate the Fair Housing Act.