Supreme Court welcomes the public again, and a new justice

The Supreme Court began its new term Monday with a new justice on the bench, the public back in the courtroom and a spirited debate in a case that pits environmental protections against property rights.

The new member of the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, wasted no time joining the lively give-and-take, asking questions throughout nearly two hours of arguments in the dispute over the nation’s main anti-water pollution law, the Clean Water Act.

Jackson, appointed by President Joe Biden, seemed to be generally aligned with the court’s other two liberal justices in favor of Justice Department arguments to preserve the authority of the federal government to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act against a business-backed challenge.

Several conservative justices were more skeptical of the regulation in a case that tests the reach of the Clean Water Act beyond rivers, lakes and streams.