State of Alaska v. United States of America (545 U.S. 75)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 6, 2005 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 545 U.S. 75 · 125 S. Ct. 2137
- Decided
- June 6, 2005
- Term
- October Term 2004
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. The State of Alaska has invoked our original jurisdiction to resolve its dispute with the United States over title to certain submerged lands underlying waters located in southeast Alaska. Alaska initiated the action by filing a complaint with leave of the Court. 530 U. S. 1228 (2000). We appointed Professor Gregory E. Maggs to act as Special Master in this matter. 531 U. S. 941 (2000). The Special Master gave thorough consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties. In a detailed report he now recommends the grant of summary judgment to the United States with respect to all the submerged lands in dispute. Report of Special Master 1 (hereinafter Report or Special Master’s Report). We set the case for oral argument on Alaska’s exceptions to the Special Master’s Report. 543 U. S. 953 (2004). For the reasons we discuss, Alaska’s exceptions are overruled. I We begin by reviewing the general principles elaborated in the resolution of similar submerged lands disputes in our earlier cases. States enjoy a presumption of title to submerged lands beneath inland navigable waters within their boundaries and beneath territorial waters within three nautical miles of their coasts. This presumption flows from two sources. Under the established rule known as the equal-footing doctrine, new States enter the Union “on an…
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