Gibbs v. Babbitt

The Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced a captive-bred population of endangered red wolves onto federal refuges under the Endangered Species Act, with an accompanying regulation barring private landowners from harassing, injuring, or killing wolves that wandered onto private land, which about 40 of the 75 wolves eventually did. North Carolina landowners (plaintiffs) challenged the regulation as exceeding Congress's Commerce Clause authority, and the district court granted summary judgment for the government (defendants), finding the regulation validly extended to wolves on private land; the landowners appealed.