In the Courts
Defenders has been at the forefront of wildlife litigation since the organization's inception in 1947. Defenders' attorneys possess an in-depth knowledge of the Endangered Species Act, National Environmental Policy Act, National Forest Management Act and other conservation laws, and they aggressively use these laws to protect endangered species and ecosystems.
Our legal team, based in Washington D.C., works in conjunction with biologists, regional experts, local conservation groups and grassroots activists.
Full Legal Docket
Defenders' uses conservation law to advocate for the protection of wildlife, public lands, climate change and freshwater & marine issues. Learn more about Defenders' legal work by clicking on case titles below, or use the left hand navigation to search for cases by subject.
Gulf Oil Disaster
05/17/2010
On May 17, 2010, Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit challenging the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) complicity in the Gulf oil disaster and continued lax oversight of oil drilling operations, including its failure to require a thorough examination of spill risks from exploratory drilling operations like the Deepwater Horizon. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, and seeks to prohibit the MMS from continuing to exempt from environmental review new exploratory drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf Delisting Challenge 2009
09/09/2009
Challenge against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 2009 decision to delist the northern Rockies wolf population, thus removing their protections under the Endangered Species Act and relinquishing management to the states of Idaho and Montana.
Critical Habitat for the Piping Plover
04/30/2009
Defenders of Wildlife successfully defended in court the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to designate critical habitat for wintering piping plover in portions of Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Pea Island Wildlife Refuge.
Sea Turtle Bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico Fishery
04/15/2009
Defenders challenged the National Marine Fisheries Service for its ongoing violation of the Endangered Species Act due to the unauthorized capture, injury, and death of threatened and endangered sea turtles in the bottom-set longline sector of the government authorized Gulf of Mexico reef fish fishery.
Bison and Elk Refuge Management Plan
02/23/2009
Challenge to the Bison and Elk Management Plan for the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park.
Oil Shale on BLM Lands
01/16/2009
Challenge to the Bureau of Land Management's decision to amend existing land management plans in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah to allow wide scale leasing and development of oil shale deposits, and its concurrent adoption of new regulations governing the oil shale leasing process.
Woodland Caribou Critical Habitat
01/15/2009
Litigation against the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their failure to respond to a petition submitted in December 2002 by Defenders and a coalition of conservation organizations to designate critical habitat for the endangered woodland caribou under the ESA.
Smoky Canyon
12/12/2008
Challenge to the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management decision to authorize the expansion of the Smoky Canyon phosphate mine in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Southeastern Idaho that could potentially contaminate the habitat of hundreds of wildlife species.
Polar Bear Litigation
12/11/2008
Defenders has brought suit to challenge the polar bear special 4(d) rule exempting the species from take protections, while also intervening to defend the listing from challenges brought by the State of Alaska and numerous industry and hunting groups.
Section 7 Regulations
12/11/2008
Litigation against final regulations issued on November 11, 2008 that eliminate the requirement that federal agencies consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service on potentially thousands of federal actions that may adversely affect listed species or their critical habitat.
El Lobo: Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery
10/22/2008
Defenders challenges the US Fish and Wildlife Service's 2003 decision to cede responsibility of Mexican Wolf recovery to an Adaptive Management Oversight Committee, and challenges Standard Operating Procedure 13.
Failure to List the Wolverine
09/30/2008
Challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision not to list the wolverine as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act despite fragmentation of the population, and threats to the species including trapping, snowmobiles, and loss of habitat due to climate change.
Navy Sonar Amicus
09/15/2008
Amicus brief filed in Winter v. NRDC, the "Navy sonar" case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Right Whale Entanglement
09/15/2008
Challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to delay the effective date of regulations requiring the use of fishing gear designed to protect highly endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Sierra Nevada MIS
09/09/2008
Challenge to the USDA Forest Service's adoption of an amendment to the forest plans for ten National Forests in California's Sierra Nevada reducing requirements for monitoring management indicator species (MIS) affected by activities on those forests.
Southern California Forest Plans Challenge
08/14/2008
Litigation against the U.S.D.A. Forest Service challenging its April 2006 adoption of the revised Forest Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino Forests in Southern California.
Foothill South Toll Road
08/14/2008
Challenge to the Fish and Wildlife Service and NMFS findings that the existence of 10 endangered species will not be jeopardized or adversely affected by the construction of a proposed Foothill-South toll-road in southern Orange and northern San Diego counties of California.
Right Whale Ship Strikes 2008
06/26/2008
Litigation arguing that the National Marine Fisheries Service has abrogated its duties under the ESA and Marine Mammal Protection Act to protect and recover the North Atlantic right whale by delaying the promulgation of regulations to establish speed restrictions and reduce the threat of ship strikes to the critically endangered species.
Jaguar Recovery Plan
06/03/2008
Challenge to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's decision not to prepare a recovery plan for the endangered jaguar in the face of imminent threats posed to their habitat and key migratory passages along the U.S.-Mexico border.
National Forest Management Plan: Bush Administration Revisions
05/06/2008
Challenge to Bush Administration's forest management regulations which roll back protections for wildlife and their habitat in America's National Forest System.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf- Delisting Challenge 2008
04/28/2008
Challenge against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 2008 decision to delist the northern Rockies wolf population, thus removing their protections under the Endangered Species Act and relinquishing management to the states of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
Southern California Forest BiOp Challenge
03/05/2008
Litigation against the USDA Forest Service over its failure to complete consultation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the revised Forest Plans for the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests, and to challenge the Forest Service's ongoing illegal take of threatened and endangered species in these forests.
Chukchi Sea
01/31/2008
Litigation filed against the Minerals Management Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding MMS's decision to offer approximately 29.4 million acres of public lands on the outer continental shelf of the Chukchi Sea for oil and gas leasing.
Exxon Valdez Amicus
01/28/2008
Amicus brief filed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation. The brief emphasizes the enormity and seriousness of the spill, the inadequacy of Exxon's clean-up effort, and the ongoing impacts to the environment.
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf- Management Challenge
01/28/2008
Challenge to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's updated regulation for the management of gray wolves in the northern Rockies that significantly reduces the protections for gray wolves in the region.
ORV Management in Big Cypress National Preserve
12/27/2007
Challenge to the National Park Service's decision to re-open off-road vehicle (ORV) trails in the Bear Island Unit of the Big Cypress National Preserve.
Mexican Gray Wolf FOIA Redactions
11/30/2007
A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services to force the agency to turn over documents relating to removals of Mexican gray wolves due to alleged depredation on livestock.
Border Fence Construction: San Pedro Riparian NCA
11/01/2007
Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, successfully granted to halt border fence construction in San Pedro Riparian NCA. Subsequent challenge of constitutionality of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff's waiver of the Temporary Restraining Order to resume construction.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore
10/18/2007
Lawsuit to compel the National Park Service to manage beach driving responsibly at Cape Hatteras National Seashore to protect the threatened piping plover, threatened and endangered sea turtles, other species of waterbirds and shorebirds, and their habitat.
Canada Lynx
08/01/2007
Defenders has been working for more than 15 years to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Canada Lynx as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and to designate an appropriate critical habitat for the species. Defenders litigation efforts led to a listing in 2000 and a designation of 29 million acres of critical habitat in 2009.
Chino Hills
03/17/2007
Litigation regarding the decision of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to approve the construction of a road across a rare area of open space, Chino Hills State Park in Orange County, California.
Woodland Caribou
03/01/2007
Snowmobile use in the Selkirk Mountains, particularly the caribou Recovery Area, has increased rapidly over the past several years, and is expected to continue. As more (and more powerful) snowmobiles press further into caribou habitat, the potential increases for caribou to be directly harmed and displaced from key areas.
Wyoming Roadless Rule Intervention
01/01/2007
The state of Wyoming, logging and other industry groups revived their challenge to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule after the Court in California v. U.S. Department of Agriculture invalidated the Bush administration's repeal of that rule.
Roadless Rule Repeal
11/01/2006
Challenge to Bush administration's repeal of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule which protects National Forest roadless areas from logging and fragmentation.
California Vernal Pool Critical Habitat
11/01/2006
Consolidated lawsuit in which Defenders challenged the Fish and Wildlife Service and Army Corps of Engineers' critical habitat exclusions for 15 vernal pool species in central California, while also intervening to defend FWS's designations from a challenge brought by developers.
Superior Forest Plan
08/15/2006
Challenge to the revised forest plan for the Superior National Forest, which encompasses 3 million acres of pine, fir, spruce, and endless lakes and streams in northeastern Minnesota.
Alaska Wolf
08/01/2006
Lawsuit challenging Alaska's predator control plans which permit the aerial hunting of wolves in areas across the state
Nevada Ground Water
08/01/2006
Litigation regarding the Nevada State Engineer's refusal to provide for public participation in relation to groundwater development proposals in southern and eastern Nevada, the largest of which is the Southern Nevada Water Authority's Clark, Lincoln and White Pine Counties Groundwater Development Project.
Arizona Public Trust
06/19/2006
Challenges to Arizona Navigable Streams Adjudication Commission determinations of non-navigability for Arizona rivers that disclaim all of the state’s public trust interests in the beds of several rivers in the state.
Red Knot Emergency Listing
06/01/2006
Lawsuit challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to emergency list the red knot, a shorebird that has suffered a 90% decline in total population over the last ten years.
Sunrise-Douglas Vernal Pool
06/01/2006
Litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to initiate or complete ESA or National Environmental Policy act analysis in connection with adoption of the Sunrise-Douglas Community Plan Area Strategy.
Federal Wetlands
06/01/2006
Amicus brief filed in U.S. Supreme Court case addressing whether the Commerce Clause permits Congress to regulate intrastate wetlands and tributaries under the Clean Water Act.
Little Pend Oreille
05/31/2006
Intervention in defense of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a suit challenging its decision to terminate annual grazing on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Washington State.
Florida Black Bear
02/02/2006
Challenge to FWS decision to deny a threatened listing of the Florida black bear.
Right Whale Ship Strikes 2006
01/12/2006
Lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries and the Coast Guard for failure to protect North Atlantic right whales from collisions with ships.
African Antelope
10/01/2005
Challenge to a Fish and Wildlife Service rule that creates a legal market through which three species of highly endangered African antelope, trophy hunted on American ranches, may be traded.
Los Padres National Forest Oil and Gas Drilling
09/15/2005
Litigation against the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service concerning the amendment of the Los Padres National Forest Plan to allow greatly expanded oil and gas leasing on the forest.
US Border Patrol FOIA
08/15/2004
Litigation to compel the Border Patrol and Department of Homeland Security to release documents responsive to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Flat Tailed Horned Lizard
10/30/2003
Over a decade of litigation challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to list the flat-tailed horned lizard under the Endangered Species Act.
Wolf Downlisting Challenge
10/01/2003
Challenge to FWS's plan in 2003 to lessen federal protections for wolves throughout the lower 48 States despite the species need for additional protections.
Montanans for Multiple Use
06/10/2003
Intervention in a suit brought by a coalition of wise use and property rights groups challenging management of the Flathead National Forest in northwest Montana.
Protecting the Pygmy Owl
01/09/2001
Litigation since 1992 to list the Arizona population of the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl as an endangered species.
Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction
01/01/2000
10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturns lower court's ruling that Yellowstone and Idaho wolf reintroductions were illegal.
Rio Grande Silvery Minnow
11/11/1999
Litigation to compel federal agencies to manage federal water projects along the Middle Rio Grande in a manner that provides adequate flow for the health of the river ecosystem and the survival of the endangered Rio Grande Silvery Minnow, southwestern willow flycatcher and other fish and wildlife.
National Petroleum Reserve - AK
10/15/1998
Challenge to the Department of Interior's proposal to lease an area of the national Petroleum Reserve - Alaska.
South Florida WMD - Everglades
09/15/1988
In September 1988, the U.S. filed suit against South Florida Water Management District and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, seeking enforcement of state water quality laws protecting Everglades National Park and the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Coal Combustion Waste Campaign
Coal combustion waste – also known as “coal ash” or “fly ash” – is a hazardous toxic byproduct of coal-fired power plans and is notorious for its contamination of groundwater and surface water. In cooperation with the Environmental Integrity Project, Defenders is pursuing a multi-faceted campaign to address the issue of unregulated coal ash. Securing strong effluent limitations for these toxic pollutants is critical.
Legal Spotlight: Northern Rockies Wolves
On August 5, 2010, a federal judge overturned a decision to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act, paving the way for these critical predators to rebuild their numbers to ecologically sustainable levels.
Defenders' Legal Victories
From securing protections for specific imperiled species to ensuring environmental impacts are considered when evaluating development plans, our legal team has led the way to many victories supporting wildlife and habitats.
