Alito adopts the continuous-surface-connection test in Sackett
Samuel AlitoAssociate justice, writing the Court's majority opinion
Alito adopts the test requiring covered wetlands to be practically indistinguishable from covered waters.
Responding to
Clean Water Act coverage of adjacent wetlands requires a continuous surface connection that makes the wetland practically indistinguishable from covered waters.
“We agree with this formulation of when wetlands are part of “the waters of the United States.””
Original text
Where this statement fits
Alito and Kavanaugh split over Sackett's Clean Water Act wetlands test
All nine justices agreed that the Sacketts should win their wetlands case. They split over the governing test. Justice Samuel Alito requires a continuous surface connection to covered waters; Justice Brett Kavanaugh says that excludes neighboring wetlands Congress protected.
Source and context
Original text
About this source
The justices agree on the judgment for the Sacketts but divide over the continuous-surface-connection test for covered wetlands.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
The opinion describes the Rapanos plurality's view that wetlands are covered only when a continuous surface connection to covered waters leaves no clear line between water and wetland.
After the quotation
The opinion then acknowledges that low tides or dry spells can temporarily interrupt a surface connection, and holds that the Clean Water Act covers only wetlands that are practically indistinguishable from covered waters.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the Sackett majority's continuous-surface-connection restriction on Clean Water Act coverage of wetlands. Alito's majority opinion adopts that test as the Court's reading of when wetlands are part of the waters of the United States, which treats the restriction as the correct rule, so we used Defended or excused. The closest competing label is Challenged characterization; it loses because Alito does not dispute how the test is described but adopts it as the governing rule.
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More from this case
Read the full caseKavanaugh rejects Sackett's narrow wetlands test
“In my view, the Court’s “continuous surface connection” test departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this Court’s precedents.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Alito adopts the continuous-surface-connection test in Sackett". First published: 2026-10-22. Last updated: 2026-10-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/6456-alito-adopts-the-test-requiring-covered-wetlands-to