The court in Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. U.S. State Department, et al., recently dismissed claims against the U.S. State Department that it violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by issuing a presidential permit to TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, LP, for a cross-border pipeline between the U.S. and Canada without a sufficient assessment of the environmental impacts. The court found that the State Department, acting solely on behalf of the President in issuing the permit under Executive Order 13,337, was exercising a purely presidential prerogative that was not subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act.
A copy of the decision can be found here (Case No. 08-1363).
[Disclosure: Before joining the bench, Judge Leon practiced law with the Vorys firm.]