Justice Kennedy and environmental water cases: A pragmatic approach to water from a Western perspective

“Go west, young man” was the famous advice given to Civil War veterans.  Justice Kennedy’s opinions in U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the Clean Water Act have a similar western flavor. The Justice grew up and practiced law in Sacramento, California. Although Kennedy moved east to Washington, D.C., with his unanimous Senate confirmation in 1988, he still kept some of this western perspective throughout his opinions in key water cases during his tenure on the Court.