Winter v. National Resources Defense Counsel, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
Argued October 8, 2008 - Decided November 12, 2008
The full opinion can be found here.
In March of 2007, the National Resources Defense Counsel filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of the United States Navy in an attempt to prevent the Navy from using Mid-Frequency Active sonar in training exercises off the coast of Southern California. The National Resources Defense Cousel sought declaratory and injunctive relief on the grounds that the training exercises violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and other federal laws. The waters off the coast of California contain at least 37 species of marine mammmals. The National Resources Defense Counsel asserted that the MFA sonar causes serious injury to these mammals.
In a 6-3 decision, the United States Supreme Court held in favor of the Navy. The Court stated "the Navy's need to conduct realistic training with active sonar to respond to the threat posed by enemy submarines plainly outweighs the interests advanced by the plantiffs."
Justices Alito, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy joined an opinion written by Chief Justice Roberts. Justice Breyer filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Stevens joined as to the concurrence. Justices Ginsburg and Souter dissented outright.
