Florida scrub-jay protections incite a sweeping ESA challenge

By Michael Doyle | 01/30/2025 01:33 PM EST

The Pacific Legal Foundation says the Endangered Species Act does not apply to species — such as the Florida bird — found in only one state.

A blue and white Florida scrub-jay with a band on its leg rests on a branch.

A Florida scrub-jay. A number of federal appellate courts have previously rejected the argument that the ESA protects only so-called intrastate species. James Lyon/Fish and Wildlife Service.

The modest Florida scrub-jay has now been enlisted into a major-league fight over limiting the reach of the Endangered Species Act.

In a case that revives a far-reaching but so far unsuccessful argument, the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation is contending in federal court that the ESA applies only to species that inhabit more than one state.

The threatened Florida scrub-jay, by contrast, is confined to the Florida peninsula. That’s allowed it to be folded into the legal challenge that theoretically could reach well beyond the one species.

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“We take the lawsuit seriously, given the threat that that argument poses to the Endangered Species Act and the uncertainty of how the Trump administration will respond to it,” Earthjustice senior attorney Aaron Bloom said.

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