On January 23, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a district court ruling that, if left intact, would have had a crippling effect on our military’s ability to combat terrorism. The decision was a victory for WLF, which filed a brief urging that the lower-court decision be overturned. The district court had enjoined the military from conducting live-fire military training exercises on an uninhabited island in the Western Pacific, on the ground that a few non-endangered migratory birds might be harmed during the exercises. WLF argued that the Migratory Bird Act was never intended to produce such an absurd result. Before the appeals court could rule, Congress amended the Migratory Bird Act to make clear that it never intended the law to interfere with military training. Based on that amendment, the appeals court dismissed the case.