United States Eleventh Circuit

In case involving question of whether the Alabama sturgeon is an endangered species, summary judgment for defendant Fish and Wildlife Service is affirmed over claims that its Final Rule designating a critical habitat for the sturgeon must be vacated because: 1) defendant failed to consider the relevant factors in reaching its listing decision; 2) it violates Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act; and 3) Congress exceeded the power granted to it under the Commerce Clause by authorizing protection of the Alabama sturgeon, an intrastate, noncommercial species.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/08/2007
• Published 02/08/2007

Judges

• CARNES, Circuit Judge:, Before CARNES, MARCUS and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Thomas Lee Casey, III, Robert P. Fowler, Jeffrey Heath Wood, William Hughes Satterfield, Balch & Bingham, LLP, Birmingham, AL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants., Reed Hopper, Pac. Legal Foundation, Sacramento, CA, Jason C. Rylander, Defenders of Wild Life, Washington, DC, for Amici Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert H. Oakley, U.S. Dept. of Justice-ENRD-App. Section, Washington, DC, for Defendants-Appelees.