United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council v. Karlen, 444 U.S. 223 (1980)

Strycker's Bay Neighborhood Council, Inc. v. Karlen

No. 79-168

Decided January 7, 1980*

444 U.S. 223

Syllabus

Held: The Court of Appeals erred in concluding that, when the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) considered alternative sites before redesignating a proposed site for middle-income housing as one for low-income housing it should have given determinative weight to environmental factors such as crowding low-income housing into a concentrated area and should not have considered the delay that would occur in developing an alternative site as an overriding factor. Once an agency has made a decision subject to the procedural requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the only role for a court is to insure that the agency has considered the environmental consequences; it cannot interject itself within the area of discretion of the executive as to the choice of the action to be taken. Here, there is no doubt that HUD considered the environmental consequences of its decision to redesignate the proposed site for low-income housing, and the Act requires no more.

Certiorari granted; 590 F.2d 39, reversed.