Who's Responsible for Environmental Protection? An Examination of U.S. Federal District Court Cases

This research analyzes how organizations and agencies use the federal judiciary to prevent environmental degradation and address the climate crisis. Despite the central role of law in public administration, few studies have incorporated litigation and judicial advocacy to develop a more holistic picture of intersectoral relations and the provision of public services such as environmental protection. Using a co-production lens and drawing on Young's supplementary, complementary, or adversarial framework, this study asks the following research questions: What is the nature of the relationship between the three sectors as they use the federal judiciary for environmental protection? And, what do different patterns of co-production tell us about environmental protection in the US? To answer these questions, this research draws on an original dataset of federal district court cases developed from the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database (FJC IDB) and Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). After looking at broad trends in environmental cases over the past 30 years, we examine a sample of cases from 2015 and 2018 to identify patterns in parties, causes of action, case locations, and outcomes. We find support primarily for supplemental and adversarial relationships and highlight the ways in which these relationships may contribute to environmental justice issues.