County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund

Decided April 23, 2020. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-260 · 590 U.S. 165 (2020) · Cited 81 times

Holding

The Clean Water Act, which forbids “any addition” of any pollutant from “any point source” to “navigable waters” without the appropriate Environmental Protection Agency permit, 33 U. S. C. §§1311(a), 1362(12)(A), requires a permit when there is a direct discharge from a point source into navigable waters or when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court. Read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–3.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Rapanos v. United States · 547 U.S. 715 (2006)
• Environmental Protection Agency v. California Ex Rel. State Water Resources Control Board · 426 U.S. 200 (1976)
• South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians · 541 U.S. 95 (2004)
• City of Milwaukee v. Illinois · 451 U.S. 304 (1981)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · 323 U.S. 134 (1944)
• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• Food & Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. · 529 U.S. 120 (2000)
• Deal v. United States · 508 U.S. 129 (1993)
• Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States Army Corps of Engineers · 531 U.S. 159 (2001)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• Baker Botts L.L.P. v. ASARCO LLC · 576 U.S. 121 (2015)
• Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads · 575 U.S. 43 (2015)
• Dietz v. Bouldin · 579 U.S. 40 (2016)
• U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs v. Hawkes Co. · 578 U.S. 590 (2016)
• Michigan v. Envtl. Prot. Agency · 576 U.S. 743 (2015)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Michigan v. EPA · 576 U.S. 743 (2015)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2020). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).