The US Supreme Court made an important statement this week on a president’s authority as commander-in-chief, ruling that the US Navy’s use of active sonar in anti-submarine training off the coast of Southern California qualifies as an urgent national-defense matter.

Environmentalists complained that sonar poses a risk to whales.

Perhaps.

But inadequately trained anti-submarine operators certainly pose a risk to US national security – to say nothing of American sailors – and that should trump whales.

Such training – in that area, specifically – is especially important because the island channels there resemble the naval conditions in the Strait of Hormuz and inside the Persian Gulf, where Russian-built Iranian subs are known to lurk.

The California Coastal Commission, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other “green” groups sued to block the naval operations under the Coastal Zone Management Act – which gives states limited authority over the federal use of their coasts.

The White House then issued a waiver under the National Environmental Policy Act, permitting the Navy exercises to continue. The case ultimately landed before the High Court.

The body’s 5-4 decision avoided the issue of conflicting jurisdiction – state authority over federal property – but addressed the overall critical point, establishing that courts can’t lightly second-guess the president’s assessment of vital national-security matters.

Our sympathies to the whales, but sailors matter more.