American Bird Conservancy v. Kempthorne

OPINION OF THE COURT

BARRY, Circuit Judge.

In July and August 2005, appellants, a number of conservation groups, 1 petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”) to list as endangered on an emergency basis the red knot, a species of migratory shorebird. The FWS declined to undertake emergency rulemaking by letter of December 22, 2005, but continued to review the petition in the context of a non-emergency. On June 13, 2006, before the FWS made a final determination, appellants filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey claiming (1) that the denial of…