State of Kansas v. State of Colorado (514 U.S. 673)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 15, 1995 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 514 U.S. 673 · 115 S. Ct. 1733
- Decided
- May 15, 1995
- Term
- October Term 1994
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. This original action involves a dispute between Kansas, Colorado, and the United States over alleged violations of the Arkansas River Compact. The Special Master has filed a report (Report) detailing his findings and recommendations concerning the liability phase of the trial. Both Kansas and Colorado have filed exceptions to those findings and recommendations. We agree with the Special Master’s disposition of the liability issues. Accordingly, we overrule the parties’ exceptions. I The Continental Divide in the United States begins at the Canadian border in the mountains of northwestern Montana. From there, it angles southeast through Montana and Wyoming until it enters Colorado. It then runs roughly due south through Colorado, following first the crest of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, and then shifting slightly west to follow the crest of the Sawatch Range. The Arkansas River rises on the east side of the Continental Divide, between Climax and Leadville, Colorado. Thence it flows south and east through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, emptying into the Mississippi River, which in turn flows into the Gulf of Mexico. As if to prove that the ridge that separates them is indeed the Continental Divide, a short distance away from the source of the Arkansas, the Colorado River rises and thence flows…
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