California and State Lands Commission v. Deep Sea Research, Inc., et al. (523 U.S. 491)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 22, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 491 · 118 S. Ct. 1464
- Decided
- April 22, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. This action, involving the adjudication of various claims to a historic shipwreck, requires us to address the interaction between the Eleventh Amendment and the in rem admiralty jurisdiction of the federal courts. Respondent Deep Sea Research, Inc. (DSR), located the ship, known as the S. S. Brother Jonathan, in California’s territorial waters. When DSR turned to the federal courts for resolution of its claims to the vessel, California contended that the Eleventh Amendment precluded a federal court from considering DSR’s claims in light of the State’s asserted rights to the Brother Jonathan under federal and state law. We conclude that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar the jurisdiction of a federal court over an in rem, admiralty action where the res is not within the State’s possession. I The dispute before us arises out of respondent DSR’s assertion of rights to both the vessel and cargo of the Brother Jonathan, a 220-foot, wooden-hulled, double side-wheeled steamship that struck a submerged rock in July 1865 during a voyage between San Francisco and Vancouver. It took less than an hour for the Brother Jonathan to sink, and most of the ship’s passengers and crew perished. The ship’s cargo, also lost in the accident, included a shipment of up to $2 million in gold and a United States Army payroll that some estimates…
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