U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service et al, Respondents
Noel J. Francisco, U.S. Solicitor General
In 1973, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which authorized the U.S. Government to designate protected status for certain species and the habitats in which they lived. Such a determination would protect at-risk plants and animals from extinction and provide a plan for their recovery. In 2001, the Federal Government listed the dusky gopher frog, an amphibian that lives in seasonal ponds in Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, as “endangered.” At the time, there were only a handful of known frog populations in existence. In 2010, following a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S Fish and Wildlife…
