Great Lakes Law

The Dulcepamba River gets its day in court - rights of nature and Constitutional law in Ecuador

The following guest post is by Great Lakes Environmental Law Center student fellow Shannon Nelson. Shannon is a University of Michigan Law School student and graduate of Wesleyan University. Prior to law school, she was the operations manager for Floating Doctors in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Shannon has led our project in Ecuador, working with local advocates and attorneys to protect the Dulcepamba River and support the people most affected by its destruction. In 2008,... Read more →

Voters Approve Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Polluters Challenge it in Court

On February 26, 2019, voters in Toledo, Ohio overwhelmingly passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, fully stated- ESTABLISHING A BILL OF RIGHTS FOR LAKE ERIE, WHICH PROHIBITS ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS THAT WOULD VIOLATE THE BILL OF RIGHTS We the people of the City of Toledo declare that Lake Erie and the Lake Erie watershed comprise an ecosystem upon which millions of people and countless species depend for health, drinking water and survival. We further... Read more →

Federal appeals court allows Flint residents’ claims against state officials for violation of the constitutional right to bodily integrity

In a win for Flint residents and environmental justice, the federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the actions of government – notably MDEQ officials and state-appointed emergency managers – “shocked the conscience” and may violate citizens’ right to bodily integrity as guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment. The court’s decision - Guertin v. Michigan, 912 F. 3d 907 (6th Cir. 2019) - reasons that water... Read more →

New Second Edition of Modern Water Law – comprehensive text now includes human right to water

Our new Second Edition of Modern Water Law: Private Property, Public Rights, and Environmental Protections has been published by Foundation Press and is available on Amazon. Co-authored again with Robert Adler, the Jefferson B. and Rita E. Fordham Presidential Dean, and Robin Kundis Craig, the James I. Farr Presidential Endowed Chair of Law, both at the University of Utah College of Law. Modern Water Law provides a comprehensive text to study the range of legal... Read more →

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment presents 16 Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment in final report to UN Human Rights Council

Professor John Knox, a leading expert on international environmental and human rights law, is scheduled to present his final reports as Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment to the United Nations Human Rights Council this week. In July 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Professor Knox to a three-year mandate as its first Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy... Read more →