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Opinion of the Court
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
Section 404(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA or Act), 86 Stat. 884, as amended, 33 U. S. C. § 1344(a), regulates the discharge of dredged or fill material into "navigable waters." The United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has interpreted § 404(a) to confer federal authority over an abandoned sand and gravel pit in northern Illinois which provides habitat for migratory birds. We are asked to decide whether the provisions of § 404(a) may be fairly extended to these waters, and, if so, whether Congress could exercise such authority consistent with the Commerce Clause, U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3. We answer the first question in the negative and therefore do not reach the second.
Petitioner, the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC), is a consortium of 23 suburban Chicago
Public Projects Coalition et al. by Lawrence R. Liebesman; for the Pacific Legal Foundation et al. by Anne M. Hayes and M. Reed Hopper; for the Serrano Water District et al. by Virginia S. Albrecht and Stephen J. Wenderoth; for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. by Mark A. Perry, Daniel J. Popeo, and Paul D. Kamenar; for the U. S. Conference of Mayors et al. by Richard Ruda and James I. Crowley; and for James J. Wilson by Steven A. Steinbach and Gerald A. Feffer.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the State of California et al. by Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of California, Richard M. Frank, Chief Assistant Attorney General, J. Matthew Rodriguez, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Dennis M. Eagan, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Joseph Barbieri, Deputy Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective States as follows: Thomas J. Miller of Iowa, Andrew Ketterer of Maine, John J. Farmer, Jr., of New Jersey, W. A. Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Hardy Myers of Oregon, William H. Sorrell of Vermont, and Christine O. Gregoire of Washington; for the Anti-Defamation League et al. by Martin E. Karlinsky, Steven M. Freeman, Michael Lieberman, and Elliot M. Mincberg; and for Environmental Defense et al. by Louis R. Cohen and Michael Bean.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the American Forest & Paper Association et al. by Russell S. Frye; for the Center for Individual Rights by Michael E. Rosman; for the National Stone Association by Kurt E. Blase; and for Dr. Gene Likens et al. by Michael Bean.
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