Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society (1991)
- Docket
- 90-1596
- Decided
- 1991-01-01
Summary
Question: Does § 318 of the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, violate Article III of the U.S. Constitution? Conclusion: No. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for a unanimous court, reversed the Ninth Circuit and remanded. The Supreme Court held that §318 did not violate Article III because it made changes to the law by replacing the legal standards of the five challenged statutes. It did not make any findings of law or fact, or compel any results in the pending cases. The explicit reference to the cases only served to identify the statutes underlying those cases.