Endangered Species Law & Policy

On February 12, 2018, the Trump Administration released a budget proposal that would reduce spending on various components of the Endangered Species Act by almost half, including listing determinations and protection of critical habitat.  The administration's latest budget proposal has been met with widespread opposition by the environmental community.  See Trump Budget is Death Sentence for Endangered Species by Center for Biological Diversity.

Long ago, the framers of the Constitution decided to separate the federal government's powers into three branches, with each branch acting as a check on the other.  Broadly speaking, the legislative branch writes the law, the judicial branch decides what the law means, and the executive branch decides how to enforce the law.  Sometimes, however, the powers can overlap among the branches.

For example, besides writing the laws, the legislative branch also approves the budgets for the various federal agencies.  And if a particular agency budget does not include funds for ...