Barrett’s gives first majority opinion in environmentalists case

WASHINGTON >> Justice Amy Coney Barrett issued her first signed majority opinion for the Supreme Court on Thursday, siding with the government over an environmental group seeking draft agenda reports about potential harm to endangered species.

The 7-to-2 opinion said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not have to provide the Sierra Club the guidance it gave the Environmental Protection Agency about a proposed rule regarding power plants that use water to cool their equipment.

The rest of the court’s conservatives joined Barrett’s opinion, as did liberal Justice Elena Kagan. Liberal Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor issued a mild dissent.

The case was the first Barrett heard after President Donald Trump nominated her to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Barrett was confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 26 and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club was argued on Nov. 3.

It is customary for a new justice to receive a lopsided - if not unanimous - ruling as a first assignment.

Barrett’s opinion, assigned by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a fact-laden interpretation of the Freedom of Information Act, which provides the public with access to documents used by the government in making decisions.

But there are exceptions to the law, and one concerns the “deliberative process privilege.”

It protects documents generated during an agency’s deliberations about policy, as opposed to documents that explain the policy the agency adopts.

Barrett said the “inhouse drafts” that the Sierra Club sought were protected, because they reflected “a preliminary view - not a final decision - about the likely effect of the EPA’s proposed rule on endangered species.”