State of Kansas v. State of Colorado (543 U.S. 86)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 7, 2004 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 543 U.S. 86 · 125 S. Ct. 526
- Decided
- December 7, 2004
- Term
- October Term 2004
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. We again consider a long-running water dispute between Colorado and Kansas. The water is that of the Arkansas River, once proudly called the “Nile of America.” The river originates high in the Rocky Mountains. It runs eastward' through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, before joining the Mississippi near the town of Arkansas Post. For decades, Kansas and Colorado disagreed about the division of its upper waters. See Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U. S. 46 (1907); Colorado v. Kansas, 320 U. S. 383 (1943). In 1949, they entered into an interstate compact. See Arkansas River Compact (Compact), 63 Stat. 145 (agreeing to “[equitably divide and apportion” the waters (internal quotation marks omitted)). But the disagreements have persisted. Present proceedings began in 1985, when Kansas charged that Colorado had violated the Compact. Kansas pointed out that Compact Art. IV-D says: “This Compact is not intended to impede or prevent future beneficial development of the Arkansas River basin in Colorado and Kansas by Federal or State agencies, by private enterprise, or by combinations thereof, which may involve construction of dams, reservoir, and other works for the purposes of water utilization and control, as well as the improved or prolonged functioning of existing works: Provided, that the waters of the Arkansas River, as defined…
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