Professor Michael Pappas co-authored an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in the pending case of Sturgeon v. Frost. The case considers whether the National Park Service has authority to regulate hovercraft (and other uses of navigable waters) within National Park System Units in Alaska. Professor Pappas, Professor Justin Pidot of the University of Colorado Law School, and Professor Amanda Leiter of American University Washington College of Law drafted the amicus brief on behalf of law professors across the country. The brief supports the position that the United States has regulatory authority over the waters at issue. The United States argues this point based on the doctrine of federal reserved water rights, and the amicus brief offers an alternative analysis that would allow the Court to reach the same conclusion based on principles of water law, commerce clause authority, and statutory interpretation.
