The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has signaled that it could narrow which set of waters receive protections under the Clean Water Act. The law requires the EPA to protect so-called “waters of the United States” but there has been significant political back-and-forth as to which bodies of water that should include.

In Sackett, the conservative majority sided with those industry and agricultural interests that sought more flexibility to dig or fill wetlands, finding that federal regulators had long wielded too much authority.