State of New Jersey v. State of New York (523 U.S. 767)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 26, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 767 · 118 S. Ct. 1726
- Decided
- May 26, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Souter
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Justice Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. An 1834 compact (hereinafter Compact) between the States of New York and New Jersey provided that Ellis Island, then a modest three acres, was part of New York despite its location on New Jersey’s side of the States’ common boundary. After 1891, when the United States decided to use the Island to receive immigrants, the National Government began placing fill around its shoreline and over the next 42 years added some 24.5 acres to the area of the original Island. The issue in this case is whether New York or New Jersey has sovereign authority over this filled land. We find that New Jersey does. I In April 1993, New Jersey invoked this Court's original jurisdiction to try a dispute over its territorial jurisdiction, see U. S. Const., Art. III, § 2, cl. 2, by seeking leave to file a bill of complaint against New York. We granted New Jersey's petition, 511 U. S. 1080 (1994), and appointed Paul Verkuil as Special Master, 513 U. S. 924 (1994). After denying the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment, he conducted a trial from July 10 to August 15,1996, and submitted final and supplemental reports to us on June 16, 1997, 520 U. S. 1273, which were then subjected to the exceptions resolved here. A Ellis Island lies in New York Harbor 1,300 feet from Jersey City, New Jersey, and one mile from the tip of Manhattan. At the time of…
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