Supreme Court of the United States hearing on Ordot Dump will be streamed live

April 26, 2021- Tamuning, Guam- The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hear arguments tomorrow, April 27, 2021 at 1am ChST, on whether Guam can pursue its case to hold the United States Navy responsible for paying its share of cleaning up Ordot Dump after discarding toxic waste there for decades without any environmental safeguards.

Attorney Gregory Garre, former Solicitor General of the United States, will be arguing the case for Guam. A livestream of the audio will be available live on CSPAN and transcripts of the oral argument will be available the same day on the SCOTUS website.

SCOTUS agreed to hear the case in January 2021 to resolve (1) whether a non-CERCLA settlement triggers the statute of limitations to bring a CERCLA claim; and (2) whether a settlement that expressly allows the parties to file suit against one another starts the clock to bring a CERCLA claim. SCOTUS accepts less than 1% of the cases it is asked to review or only about 70 cases out of the 7,000 to 8,000 petitions filed each term. This is believed to be the first case involving the government of Guam that SCOTUS has agreed to hear in over 15 years.

Guam gained the support of a bipartisan group of 26 attorneys general led by Attorney General Edward E. Manibusan from the Northern Mariana Islands in March 2021.

“This is a significant moment for Guam and we look forward to presenting our argument that both the law and equity support that the Navy should pay its fair share of cleaning-up Ordot Dump,” said Attorney General Leevin T. Camacho.