Endangered Frog Takes Center Stage as Supreme Court Begins New Term

The Dusky Gopher Frog has an average length of about three inches and a stocky body with colors on its back that range from black to brown or gray and is covered with dark spots and warts. It is at the center of the Supreme Court case regarding the implementation of the Endangered Species Act. Western Carolina University photo via Wikimedia Commons/ John A. Tupy

The federal government shouldn’t be allowed to limit development on private land to help save an endangered species when that species doesn’t actually live there, a lumber company told the Supreme Court on Oct. 1, in a property-rights case that’s being closely watched by environmentalists and conservative advocacy groups.

Environmentalist groups are on edge because though the high court rarely takes up cases involving the Endangered Species Act, it agreed Jan. 22 to hear the case on appeal from the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which ruled in favor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior.