Royal C Gardner

Royal C. Gardner has worked on Clean Water Act issues for more than three decades, first as the Department of the Army’s principal wetland attorney in the Pentagon from 1989-1993 and then as an academic since 1994. He is currently Professor of Law and Director of the Institute for Biodiversity Law and Policy at Stetson University College of Law. Island Press published his book, Lawyers, Swamps, and Money: U.S. Wetland Law, Policy, and Politics in 2011. Since 2017, he has served as pro bono counsel to aquatic scientists and scientific societies, submitting amici briefs to federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund and Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Waters of the United States

POTUS, SCOTUS, WOTUS, and the Politics of a National Resource

In 2023, the Supreme Court made one of its most devastating rulings in environmental history. By narrowing the legal definition of ‘waters of the United States’ (WOTUS), the court opened the floodgates to unregulated pollution.

Lawyers, Swamps, and Money

U.S. Wetland Law, Policy, and Politics

Lawyers, Swamps, and Money is an accessible, engaging guide to the complex set of laws governing America's wetlands. After explaining the importance of these critical natural areas, the book examines the evolution of federal law, principally the Clean Water Act, designed to protect them.

Readers will first learn the basics of administrative law: how agencies receive and exercise their authority, how they actually make laws, and how stakeholders can influence their behavior through the Executive Branch, Congress, the courts, and the media.