Under the 1995 congressional appropriations rider, the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) was precluded from using previously appropriated funds to finance final threatened or endangered species listing determinations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Ninth Circuit held that the appropriations rider effectively restricted the Secretary's ability to comply with his statutory duty under the ESA to make a final determination as to the status of the California red-legged frog. The Ninth Circuit held the Secretary's compliance was accordingly delayed until a reasonable time after appropriated funds were made available.

The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) first sued the Secretary for failing to meet the twelve-month statutory deadline under which the Secretary was required to determine whether listing the frog was warranted, or precluded due to work on other pending listing proposals. The first case settled when the Secretary agreed to publish a proposed rule to implement the listing of the frog. When the Secretary failed to meet the new deadline for the proposed rule, EDC filed a second suit that resulted in the Secretary publishing a proposed rule that the frog be listed as an endangered species. The ESA requires the Secretary to act within one year on a proposed rule by promulgating a final rule, withdrawing the proposed rule, or extending the decision period by six months. Because the Secretary failed to meet this statutory deadline, EDC filed the present suit and prevailed in district court.

The Ninth Circuit held that if Congress had not restricted the Secretary's access to appropriated ESA funds, EDC would have prevailed on appeal. While the court determined that the appropriations rider neither removed the Secretary's statutory duty to make final listing determinations, nor repealed or modified the listing provisions of the ESA, the rider temporarily removed funds available to carry out the duty. Accordingly, the rider restricted the Secretary's ability to comply with his duty, and would continue to delay a determination until a reasonable time (determined by the district court on remand) after Congress made funds available.