United States v. Maine

Background

The federal government and the States of Rhode Island and New York disputed where the coastal boundary should run for submerged lands. After a Special Master investigated and issued a report, the Court on February 19, 1985 overruled exceptions to that report, adopted the Master’s recommendations, and confirmed the report. The Court issued a supplemental order applying the 1975 boundary decree so that the whole of Long Island Sound and the part of Block Island Sound west of a straight line between Montauk Point and Watch Hill Point are treated as state inland waters.

Reasoning

The core question was how to determine the coastline for the Court’s earlier 1975 decree that defined the line between federal and state submerged lands along the Atlantic. The Court accepted the Special Master’s factual findings about where the coastline lies and applied those findings to the earlier decree. As a result, the Court declared that the specified areas of Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound constitute state inland waters. The supplemental order also assigns costs: each party pays its own costs, and the Special Master’s actual expenses are split equally between the United States and the two States.

Real world impact

This order settles which parts of those coastal waters are treated as state inland waters for purposes of the 1975 boundary ruling, meaning Rhode Island and New York are recognized as having those waters classified as state waters under the decree. The Court retained authority to enter further orders or take additional steps to implement or supplement the decree if necessary.