United States v. Maine

Background

The federal government sued thirteen Atlantic coastal States, asking the Court to declare that the United States — not the States — has sovereign rights over the seabed and subsoil more than three geographical miles seaward from each coast, extending to the edge of the continental shelf. The States mainly argued they inherited title from colonial grants and claimed exclusive dominion over the offshore seabed; Florida’s dispute was handled separately and Connecticut was not included because its waters are inland. The Court appointed a Special Master to take evidence and report on the history and law.

Reasoning

The key question was who has paramount rights to the seabed beyond the three-mile marginal sea: the federal government or the coastal States. The Special Master found that prior Supreme Court decisions (United States v. California, Louisiana, and Texas) controlled and that the States’ historical evidence did not overturn those rulings. The Court agreed, declined to overrule those precedents, and relied also on Congress’s Submerged Lands Act and Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which treated federal control beyond three miles as consistent with national sovereignty. The Court therefore entered judgment for the United States.

Real world impact

The decision confirms federal authority to manage and lease offshore resources beyond three miles and preserves many years of federal statutes, lease sales, and commercial development built on the earlier rulings. Because the opinion rests on longstanding precedent and legislative programs, it maintains the current federal regulatory and leasing structure for offshore oil, gas, and other seabed resources.