WildEarth Guardians v. David Bernhardt

O

JS-

2 3 4 5 6

United States District Court Central District of California

11 WILDEARTH GUARDIANS, Case № 2:19-cv-09473-ODW (KSx)

Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S

v. MOTION FOR SUMMARY

JUDGMENT [42]; DENYING

14 DEB HAALAND1 & U.S. FISH & DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR

WILDLIFE SERVICE,

SUMMARY JUDGMENT [46]; and Defendants. GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE

TO FILE AMICUS BRIEF [47]

17 I. INTRODUCTION This Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) case concerns the Joshua tree, an iconic 20 succulent plant occurring almost exclusively in the Mojave Desert. Environmental 21 non-profit WildEarth Guardians challenges the United States Fish and Wildlife 22 Service’s (the “Service”) decision not to list the Joshua tree as threatened under the 23 ESA (“12-Month Finding”). Guardians contends the decision is arbitrary, capricious, 24 contrary to the best scientific and commercial data available, and otherwise not in 25 accordance with the ESA. Guardians asks this Court to…