Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asks tough questions in first Supreme Court oral argument

The newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, participated in her first oral argument on Monday, with the first case involving a challenge to the EPA.

"But counsel, why is it that your conception of this does not relate in any way to Congress’s primary objective?"Jackson asked attorney Damien Michael Schiff. "Do you dispute that the primary objective stated in the statute … is that Congress cared about making sure that the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters was protected?"

Schiff countered that just because Congress has an interest, that does not mean it intends to pursue that interest at all costs. He argued that there are competing state interests at play.