Green Grant Recipients’ Fight Pits Constitution Against Contract

Recipients of canceled climate grants will try Thursday to convince a federal appeals court that their lawsuit belongs in district court, in a case that could further divide the circuits on where to litigate disputes over the Trump administration’s funding terminations.

A US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit panel will hear arguments over whether separation of powers arguments supersede the contractual nature of the Environmental Protection Agency’s green grants, which otherwise would land the case in the US Court of Federal Claims.

Environmental litigators are hoping to walk a narrow path Justice Amy Coney Barrett opened in her ...