Posted December 2, 2003

John Eastman, Director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, represented Rancho Viejo, LLC in litigation asserting that the federal Endangered Species Act's application to the non-commerical Arroyo Toad exceeds the commerce clause authority of the federal government. The Supreme Court ultimately declined to review the case, after rulings by the lower courts that Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce includes the power to regulate non-commercial, wholly interstate species.

Court of Appeals Filings (Updated 12/2/03)

• Rancho Viejo's Opening Brief (pdf)
  
• DOJ's Opposition Brief
  Part I (pdf)
  
• DOJ's Opposition Brief
  Part II (pdf)
  
  
• Rancho Viejo's Reply (pdf)
  
  
• D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' Opinion (pdf)
  
  
• Court of Appeals Opinions Dissenting from Denial of Rehearing (pdf)

• Rancho Viejo's Petition for Writ of Certiorari (pdf)
  
  
• Appendix to Petition for Writ of Certiorari (pdf)
  
  
• Supplemental Appendix to Petition for Writ of Certiorari (pdf)

• A Poorly Traveled Toad, by Michael S. Greve in The National Law Journal Online
  
  
• The Endangered Species Act: Does It Have a Stopping Point? by Jack Park, Engage, The Journal of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (October 2003 issue, scroll down to
  page 58).
  
  
• The Bufo Microscaphus Californicus, by James J. Kilpatrick, San Diego Union-Tribune (December 27, 2003)