The EPA Is Stopped at the Water’s Edge

Chief Justice John Marshall famously described the job of the courts: to “say what the law is.” The courts are supposed to read the law, not write it. Sometimes, however, the written law leaves much unanswered. At a certain point, while it is important that the Supreme Court adhere to the text written by Congress, it is even more important that it settle on an answer that tells Americans what the law is, and what it is not. That is what the Court did on Thursday in Sackett v. EPA.

The Clean...