After the appeals court rejected the state's request on Monday and issued a lengthy decision indicating that it believed the state had overstepped its authority, State Senator Russell K. Pearce, a Republican who is the principal sponsor of the law, remained defiant, saying the issue would ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the House approved the cynically named "Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act," a bill that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to oversee state water quality standards and to take action when the states fail to measure up.
The court's majority, making a strong statement in support of state sovereignty, held that Congress went beyond its authority when it let state workers file such claims.
State Senator Wayne R. Bryant, a Democrat from Camden, said that the Whitman administration was overstepping its authority under the state constitution.
But lawyers for the Democrats contended that the court should use "the full reach of its authority" under the state's constitution and laws to assure that all votes cast were counted as completely as possible, a view the court broadly accepted.
In 1889, the General Assembly began to reassert its authority over hiring state employees.
We rest our decision upon the broad ground that the work being of a public character, absolutely under the control of the state and its municipal agents acting by its authority, it is for the state to prescribe the conditions under which it will permit work of that kind to be done.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates oil- and gas-related disposal wells unless its cedes its authority to the states, has no seismic requirements for its disposal wells, an agency spokeswoman said.
Mr. Sutton has been a leading litigator in lawsuits pressing the view that Congress has improperly tried to extend its authority over the states, a movement sometimes called the new federalism.
No one is disputing the managing board's right to go forward with the project -- its authority is clearly stated in club bylaws, said Robert Ottinger, a lawyer retained by the committee.
In his dissent, Judge Paul J. Kelly Jr. warned that the court was overstepping its authority and that states should be able to decide who can marry.
