Some of you will recall that I had predicted that the United States didn't have a snowball's chance in Guam of using a Clean Water Act Consent Decree with Guam to avoid the Navy's Superfund liability for releases from a dump there. Then, after oral argument, and smarting from my inaccurate prediction of what the Supreme Court would do in the Maui case, I started to doubt myself.
Well, even a broken clock is correct twice a day. The Supreme Court just restored Guam's claims against the United States, unanimously. More to follow.
In a unanimous decision, the justices overturned the D.C. Circuit's conclusion that Guam's 2017 claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act were barred because of a 2004 settlement with the federal government under the Clean Water Act.
