Legislative Approaches to Defining ‘Waters of the United States (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Secrecy News/Federation of American Scientists)
In the 111th Congress, legislation has been introduced that seeks to clarify the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA) in the wake of Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and 2006 that interpreted the law’s jurisdiction more narrowly than prior case law. The Court’s narrow interpretation involved jurisdiction over some geographically isolated wetlands, intermittent streams, and other waters. The two cases are Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) and Rapanos v. United States. Bills to nullify the Court’s rulings have been introduced repeatedly since the 107th Congress, but none had advanced until the 111th Congress. In June 2009, a Senate committee approved S. 787, the Clean Water Restoration Act. Companion legislation in the House, H.R. 5088 (America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act), was introduced in April 2010. Under current law, the key CWA phrase which sets the act’s reach is the phrase “navigable waters,” defined to mean “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.”

From a Note on the PACER Service Center Web Site:
The PACER Service Center website, down for maintenance on Saturday May 15 from 7 to 9 a.m. CT, will then be re-launched with an improved look and feel. Visitors will find features from the former site – links to courts, account maintenance and registration services – presented in a more user-friendly manner. The new site helps novice users learn how to access federal court records online and provides all users with instant access to information.
Source: PACER Service Center

On May 13, the Missouri Legislature voted to eliminate the hard-bound version of the official state manual, known as the "blue book," and cull many old sections from the even heftier 20-volume set of state laws. State Rep. Cole McNary, R-Chesterfield, said cutting back on hard copy could save $1.7 million. His bill runs 267 pages, a heavy tome of its own by legislative standards. But that's because it must cite every one of the roughly 200 sections to be pulled from the statutes. Among them are regulations on cabooses, which railroads don't use any more. Also gone would be the old prohibition against putting yellow dye into margarine, which is white in its pure form. That was a nod long ago to the dairy industry, which didn't want margarine to look like butter. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/7B896D7526C4084186257723000BBC43?OpenDocument

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan law review articles and book reviews
http://www.lisnews.org/kagan_law_review_articles_and_book_reviews

The largest (nonpolar) desert in the world is the Sahara, in north Africa, which spans an area measured at roughly 3.5 million square miles. The United States' contiguous 48 states could easily fit in the desert. http://www.infoplease.com/askeds/world-largest-desert.html
Antarctica is larger than the Sahara, but being a cold desert, is not included in lists of hot deserts.

Rivers of the United States:
The United States has more than 250,000 rivers. That’s 3.5 million miles of rivers. The largest river is the Mississippi, which has a flow volume of 593,000 cubic feet per second at its mouth.
The longest river is the Missouri, which flows for approximately 2,500 miles. http://www.americanrivers.org/library/river-facts/river-facts.html

The New River, a tributary of the Kanawha River, is approximately 320 mi (515 km) long, flowing through the states of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia in the United States. Much of the river's course through West Virginia is designated as the New River Gorge National River. The New River is one of the American Heritage Rivers of the United States. Despite its name, the river is considered by some geologists to be possibly one of the oldest rivers in the world, between 10 million and 360 million years old. According to local folklore, it is considered to be second in age only to the Nile River and thus the oldest in North America. However, there are several rivers in Australia (eg. the Finke River) that are known to be significantly older, and the ages of rivers are very difficult to establish with precision; as the wide range of possible ages for the New River demonstrates, there is no established ranking of the ages of major rivers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_(Kanawha_River)
Personal note: My mother grew up in Pulaski, Virginia in the New River valley.

Ohio gardens I have enjoyed
Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus http://www.fpconservatory.org/
Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield http://www.kingwoodcenter.org/
Toledo Botanical Garden http://www.toledogarden.org/