U.S. top court takes up property rights case involving endangered frog

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed hear a bid by Louisiana landowners seeking to limit the federal government's power to designate private land as critical habitat for endangered species in a case involving a warty amphibian called the dusky gopher frog.

The justices will hear an appeal by the landowners, backed by business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, of a lower court ruling upholding a 2012 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to include private land where the frog does not currently live as critical habitat, putting limits on future development opportunities.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)