US Sued Over Toad at Center of Roberts' Case

[nosmokes]

original

US Sued Over Toad at Center of Roberts' Case

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LOS ANGELES - An environmental group and a Christian prayer network have joined forces to sue the Bush administration over the fate of an endangered toad -- the same "hapless" amphibian at the center of a legal opinion by US Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

The Center for Biological Diversity and Christians Caring for Creation claim in their federal lawsuit that the US Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to protect the California habitat of the endangered arroyo toad.

Roberts issued an opinion in a separate case involving the arroyo toad in 2003, while sitting as a judge in the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, an opinion that has been criticized by liberal groups as evidence of his "radical" views on states rights and environmental laws.

In that case an appeals court found the federal government could use the Endangered Species Act to stop a developer from building on land that had been designated part of the arroyo toad's habitat.

Roberts disagreed, questioning whether "a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California," could be subject to federal laws. He suggested that it should be up to California legislators to protect the toad.

The current lawsuit, filed last week in Riverside, California, claims that in cutting the number of acres (hectares) set aside for the toad from 478,000 to 12,000 in April, the Fish and Wildlife Service has threatened to drive the toad into extinction.

A spokeswoman for the US Department of the Interior, which oversees the the Fish and Wildlife Service, could not be reached for comment.

"It's an unfortunate commentary on the willingness of this administration to undermine the Endangered Species Act," said David Hogan, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Despite its small size this toad needs a lot of land to complete its life cycle."
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Story by Dan Whitcomb

Story Date: 31/8/2005

All Contents
© Reuters News Service 2005

[madeline_con]

1. Roberts thinks toads should move to another area?

Hapless moran.

[WhiteTara]

2. hapless us, to get such a toad for a judge

it is as though there is some giant cockroach nest deep in the bowels of civilization and as some lines get exposed and cleaned out, another tunnel sends out more of the hard shelled disgusting bugs. Some of them have even mutated into senators from all the poison they drank. The poison has become nectar to the cockroaches and its hard to know how to kill the nest.

:rant: