Russell C. Brooks, 41; attorney challenged Endangered Species Act

Russell C. Brooks, 41, a Seattle attorney best known for challenging Endangered Species Act protections for salmon, steelhead and killer whales -- protections he deemed government overreaching -- died Sunday of a heart attack, the Pacific Legal Foundation said.

Brooks handled many important lawsuits in the Northwest for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative public-interest law firm focusing on property rights and limited government.

He won a federal court challenge in Oregon in 2001 -- the Alsea Valley Alliance case -- that said federal officials couldn’t protect wild coho salmon off the coast of Oregon if they did not also protect the hatchery fish swimming next to them.

Brooks continued to represent the Alsea Valley Alliance, a coalition of sport fishermen, and was to argue in federal court next month that all 16 Endangered Species Act listings for salmon in the West should be invalidated on the grounds that federal officials are not properly counting hatchery fish when determining if a species needs protection.

Brooks also argued before the Washington Supreme Court against the Seattle School District’s use of race in determining high school admissions. That policy is now under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A Mississippi native, Brooks had a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas, Arlington and a law degree from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento.