The Oregon-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is filing a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The charity's campaign to stop Japanese whaling is documented in the TV series, "Whale Wars."
Back in 2012 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction to stop the Sea Shepherd from going within 500 feet of a whaling ship.
Sea Shepherd Attorney Claire Davis says U.S. staff got off the Sea Shepherd, but were replaced with protesters from other countries who then took the ship within the 500 feet limit.
The ninth circuit ruled the conservation society violated the spirit of the injunction.
Davis is appealing.
"In this case the ninth circuit found after the fact that there were additional terms to the injunction that were not actually stated in the injunction and that Sea Shepherd had violated those additional unstated terms that they claim to be the spirit of the injunction," she said.
"We believe that's a serious overreach."
An attorney for the Japanese whaling group said they will wait to see what happens before commenting.
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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
/Migrating humpback whale in the southern ocean with the Sea Shepherd in the background.
