Supreme Court Has Ordered A Brief

The United States Supreme Court has ordered the Friends of the East Hampton Airport, a group comprising aviation businesses and advocates, to submit a brief by May 19 describing its opposition to the town’s petition for Supreme Court review of an appeals court decision last fall that found the town did not have the right to enact laws that restrict the use of East Hampton Airport in order to reduce aircraft noise.

The town is seeking to overturn the ruling, which struck down three 2015 town regulations: an overnight curfew, an extended overnight curfew for noisy planes, which was in effect for two summer seasons, and a once-a-week limit on takeoffs and landings by noisy planes, which a lower court already had blocked after aviation interests filed suit.

The town will have two weeks after the May 19 submission to file a brief in reply. “We are pleased that the Supreme Court is taking a serious look at our petition,” Town Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, the town board’s airport liaison, said in a press release last week.

“The town welcomes the opportunity to be further heard, by the filing of a reply brief, on the drastic impacts that the Second Circuit’s decision will have on our airport and airports across the country. The court’s order is a positive step in our march to regain local control of East Hampton Airport.”