Judge's ruling keeps wolves off ESA list

While he viewed it as a "disrespect" for the rule of law, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy last week upheld a provision that removed gray wolves in Montana and Idaho from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Wolves were delisted by Congress earlier this year in a rider attached to a Department of Defense bill. The action was subsequently challenged by The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Center for Biological Diversity.

The two environmental groups filed suit claiming the rider was unconstitutional because it breached the separation of powers. Molloy actually agreed with the plaintiffs and castigated Congress for its tactics.

"This case presents difficult questions for me," he wrote in his decision. "The way in which Congress acted in trying to achieve a debatable policy change by attaching a rider to the Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 is a tearing away, an undermining and a disrespect for the fundamental idea of the rule of law."

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, however, has ruled in previous environmental cases that in limited instances, Congress can modify environmental laws on specific cases by using what amounts to vague and political language.

In this case, lawmakers inserted language into the wolf rider that delisted wolves in Montana and Idaho "without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation."

That "sweeps aside separation of powers concerns," Molloy said.

Molloy disagreed with the Ninth Circuit Court's interpretation but in the end upheld the rider.

Wolves will remain off the ESA list, and Montana's scheduled hunt can continue this fall.

The ruling was applauded by Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, who sponsored the rider. The environmental groups will appeal.