Cite as: 531 U. S. 159 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
word "navigable" from the definition that had originally appeared in the House version of the Act.7 The majority today undoes that deletion.
The Conference Report explained that the definition in § 502(7) was intended to "be given the broadest possible constitutional interpretation." S. Conf. Rep. No. 92-1236, p. 144 (1972), reprinted in 1 Leg. Hist. 327. The Court dismisses this clear assertion of legislative intent with the back of its hand. Ante, at 168, n. 3. The statement, it claims, "signifies that Congress intended to exert [nothing] more than its commerce power over navigation." Ibid.
The majority's reading drains all meaning from the conference amendment. By 1972, Congress' Commerce Clause power over "navigation" had long since been established. The Daniel Ball, 10 Wall. 557 (1871); Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall. 713 (1866); Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1 (1824). Why should Congress intend that its assertion of federal jurisdiction be given the "broadest possible constitutional interpretation" if it did not intend to reach beyond the very heartland of its commerce power? The activities regulated by the CWA have nothing to do with Congress' "commerce power over navigation." Indeed, the goals of the 1972 statute have nothing to do with navigation at all.
As we recognized in Riverside Bayview, the interests served by the statute embrace the protection of " 'significant natural biological functions, including food chain production, general habitat, and nesting, spawning, rearing and resting sites' " for various species of aquatic wildlife. 474 U. S., at 134-135. For wetlands and "isolated" inland lakes, that in-7 The version adopted by the House of Representatives defined "navi-gable waters" as "the navigable waters of the United States, including the territorial seas." H. R. 11896, 92d Cong., 2d Sess., § 502(8) (1971), reprinted in 1 Leg. Hist. 1069. The CWA ultimately defined "navigable waters" simply as "the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas." 33 U. S. C. § 1362(7).
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