Barrett Writes First Supreme Court Major Opinion In Wildlife Protection Case

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the government in a lawsuit by an environmental group that sued the Obama administration in 2015 for internal studies detailing potential harm to endangered aquatic species, in the first major opinion penned by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The Sierra Club argued that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) required the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to disclose studies about the impact of an Environmental Protection Agency rule detailing how power plants draw water to cool down machinery. Barrett's opinion, which was joined by the five other conservative justices as well as Justice Elena Kagan, said government agencies were protected from FOIA inquires because of the "deliberative process privilege," which means draft documents can be withheld from public view. The case was the first time Barrett took part in oral arguments since she was appointed to the Supreme Court last fall by former President Donald Trump to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissented; Breyer wrote that he viewed the "Draft Biological Opinion" as a "final" document, as opposed to "Draft of a Draft Biological Opinion." The story received coverage from outlets across the political spectrum; some noted that Barrett is the first justice since Elena Kagan to write their first majority opinion without the entire court's support.