Thomas, J., concurring
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
No. 21–454
MICHAEL SACKETT, ET UX., PETITIONERS v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, ET AL.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
[May 25, 2023]
Justice Thomas, with whom Justice Gorsuch joins, concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion in full. The Clean Water Act (CWA) confines the Federal Government’s jurisdiction to “ ‘navigable waters,’ ” defined as “the waters of the United States.” 33 U. S. C. §§1311(a), 1362(7), (12). And the Court correctly holds that the term “waters” reaches “ ‘only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water “ ‘forming geographic[al] features’ ” that are described in ordinary parlance as “streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes.” ’ ” Ante, at 14 (quoting Rapanos v. United States, 547 U. S. 715, 739 (2006) (plurality opinion)). It also correctly holds that for a wetland to fall within this definition, it must share a “ ‘continuous surface connection to bodies that are “waters of the United States” in their own right’ ” such that “ ‘there is no clear demarcation between “waters” and wetlands.’ ” Ante, at 21 (quoting Rapanos, 547 U. S., at 742 (plurality opinion)).
However, like the Rapanos plurality before it, the Court focuses only on the term “waters”; it does not determine the extent to which the CWA’s other jurisdictional terms—“navigable” and “of the United States”—limit the reach of the statute. Ante, at 14–18; Rapanos, 547 U. S., at 731 (plurality opinion). I write separately to pick up where the
