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Show K 3 Inside vcv Washington fO with Senator Jake Gam In its recent decision on the snail darter case, the Supreme Court plainly warned warn-ed Congress that it intends to enforce legislation to the proverbial letter of the law. I have expressed the same warning many times over the past few years, but only the Supreme Court can command such undivided attention. By preserving the snail darter instead of the Tellico Dam, the Court has demonstrated a very rigid interpretation of the Endangered Species Act. In the decision, the Court appears to be telling Congress: Con-gress: if you pass the laws, you'll have to live with them no matter how silly j. matter how unwise. The's preme Court will no W rescue us from the vi&t I ambiguous language characterizes so much of legislation produced bycot gress today. This policy will be our burden and our oppo, j tunity in Congress, u be our burden to clarify' so that they are clear nj simple and our opportm". ity to insure that the Uti reflect our intentions. When Congress passedtk Clean Air Act in 1970 ' had no intention of rigif preventing any significat deterioration of air quau all across the country. . this is how the Act is kit-interpreted kit-interpreted by the judicUr because of vagueness ambiguity. Similarly, it is impossiii-to impossiii-to believe that Congress t passing the 1 972 C lean Water Act, intended to grant fe Army Corps of Engineer; permitting authority over it tiny streams and ponds water. In the case of the Endu. gered Species Act, we n)C revise the language to pro. vide greater flexibility imbalance. im-balance. I am very concern, ed, for example, that theet. tire Colorado River couldfe "locked up" in ordertopro. tect the habitat of the bom. , tail chub and the razortoti j sucker. We shouldn't bem. , concerned about sue species, but small, . distinguished animals k their cousins cannot stk in the way of the develop, ment of our State. And,cu. tainly, Congress did notln. tend that . . . So, the tiny snail dart!! may have major value arTe all. It may provide the In. petus for Congress to star writing clearer, more effective effec-tive legislation in the future |