McCarren Et Al. v. Town of Springfield, Vermont, Et Al.

Background

The town of Springfield sought to build a hydroelectric plant on the Black River and applied to the federal licensing agency in 1978, but that agency never decided the application. In 1980 a neighboring town asked the Vermont Public Service Board to declare that Springfield needed a state certificate before starting site work under a Vermont statute. The Board said it had jurisdiction and barred Springfield from beginning site preparation until the state certificate was obtained. Springfield did not appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court and instead filed a federal lawsuit arguing federal licensing law preempted the state requirement. The federal district court ruled on the merits and the court of appeals affirmed.

Reasoning

The central question was whether federal licensing authority displaces Vermont’s requirement that a state board issue a certificate before site work. The Supreme Court declined to review the appeals court decision, leaving that lower-court outcome intact. In a dissent from the denial, Justice Rehnquist said the Court should have reviewed whether the federal courts properly refused to treat the state board’s prior decision as preclusive, and he argued that longstanding rules normally prevent relitigation of jurisdictional questions already litigated in state proceedings.

Real world impact

Because the Court denied review, the lower-court rulings about federal versus state authority remain in effect for now. The practical result is that Springfield could not begin site preparation without meeting the state certificate requirement unless further federal or state proceedings change the outcome. The case also raises broader questions about when federal courts must give finality to state agency decisions and about federal court workload.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Rehnquist would have granted review to decide whether federal courts must apply res judicata to state agency rulings and whether plaintiffs must pursue state appellate remedies first.