Stacking the Halls of Justice

The document highlights a 'historic vacancy crisis' in the U.S. federal courts, focusing on the D.C. Circuit where four of 11 seats remain vacant due to political obstruction. It argues that these vacancies obstruct the judiciary's ability to enforce landmark environmental statutes such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The text specifically cites the blocked nomination of Caitlin Halligan and the court's role in cases such as the EPA's veto of the Spruce No. 1 mountaintop removal coal mine in West Virginia.

• The D.C. Circuit Court is identified as the second most important court in the United States for environmental matters, often providing the final ruling on national issues involving the Safe Drinking Water Act, hazardous waste laws, and the Clean Air Act.
• Four of the 11 seats on the D.C. Circuit have remained vacant due to congressional obstruction, making President Obama the first president in over fifty years to have no judge confirmed to this court during his first full term.
• The D.C. Circuit has a history of protecting environmental laws, such as rejecting an EPA effort during the second Bush administration that would have allowed power plants to increase pollution emissions without government review.
• The court is currently handling a case regarding the EPA's veto of the Spruce No. 1 mountaintop removal coal mine; if the mine proceeds in violation of the Clean Water Act, it could pollute downstream waterways and bury over six miles of West Virginia streams with waste.

APA

Earthjustice (2013). Stacking the Halls of Justice. https://earthjustice.org/article/stacking-the-halls-of-justice

Chicago

Earthjustice. Stacking the Halls of Justice. 2013. https://earthjustice.org/article/stacking-the-halls-of-justice.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Earthjustice |title=Stacking the Halls of Justice |date=15 March 2013 |url=https://earthjustice.org/article/stacking-the-halls-of-justice |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{earthjustice2013stacking, author = {{Earthjustice}}, title = {{Stacking the Halls of Justice}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2013}, month = mar, url = {https://earthjustice.org/article/stacking-the-halls-of-justice}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }