Anderson v. Evans, 350 F.3d 815 (9th Cir. 2003)
Metcalf v. Daley, 214 F.3d 1135 (9th Cir. 2000)
Case Summary:
We represented Australians for Animals, The Fund for Animals, and others in a lawsuit against the US Department of Commerce regarding the federal government's promotion and authorization of the Makah Indian Tribe's controversial plan to kill California Gray Whales within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary in northwest Washington state - the first authorized whale hunt in 100 years. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling agreeing with our arguments that the government had approved the whale killing in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and it ordered the federal government to terminate its whaling agreement with the Makah Tribe and prepare a new analysis of the environmental impacts of the government's plan to authorize whaling in a National Marine Sanctuary. Metcalf v. Daley, 214 F.3d 1135 (9th Cir. 2000). After the government again approved the hunt, we represented the Fund for Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, and other environmental and animal protection organizations in another challenge to the National Marine Fisheries Service's authorization of the hunt. We argued that the government again violated the National Environmental Policy Act by authorizing the hunt without adequately analyzing it's environmental impacts. We also argued that the government acted in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling agreeing with our arguments and setting aside the federally authorized hunt See Anderson v. Evans, 314 F. 3d 1006 (9th Cir. 2003). The National Marine Fisheries Service is now in the process of determining whether to grant the Tribe an unprecedented waiver from the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Plaintiffs: Australians for Animals, The Fund for Animals, Humane Society of the United States, Cetacean Society Unternational, West Coast Anti-Whaling Society, Peninsula Citizens for the Protection of Whales, and individuals.
Court: United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit