American Idols

Abstract

In 2001 and 2009 we conducted an online survey of environmental law professionals, asking them to list their ten "most significant" environmental law cases. We repeated the survey in 2019. Our key finding was there has been no real shift of the most important cases since 2009. Apart from minor moves up and down, five of the top six cases were unchanged. Since the 2001 survey, four cases have remained in the top ten. Not a single recent case made the top ten. We explain why certain cases have come and gone, and why the canon of cases such as Chevron, TVA v. Hill, Rapanos, and Mass v. EPA have endured. Environmental law is now a mature field. While change is always a constant, we expect most of the classics to remain the most significant cases when we conduct the next survey in 2029.

Keywords: Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Administrative Law