United States v. California
Headline: Court declares federal ownership of California’s offshore submerged lands up to three nautical miles, strikes intergovernmental stipulations, and blocks state title claims affecting state lessees and coastal use.
Holding:
- Confirms federal ownership of California offshore lands out to three nautical miles.
- Strikes intergovernmental agreements that sought to give state lessees title to those lands.
- Private claimants must pursue challenges in district court; injunction enforcement is authorized.
Summary
Background
The dispute involves the United States (represented by the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Interior), the State of California, and Robert E. Lee Jordan, who asked to file a motion here to challenge certain agreements. Those agreements, filed as stipulations, purported to renounce federal paramount power over particular submerged lands off the California coast and to allow California lessees to occupy and exploit those areas. The Court had announced an opinion in this case on June 23, 1947, and later addressed these stipulations and Jordan’s request.
Reasoning
The central question was who holds ownership and ultimate power over the submerged lands off California’s coast. The Court concluded that the United States has had and now has paramount rights, full dominion, and power over the lands, minerals, and related resources seaward of the ordinary low-water mark out to three nautical miles, and that California has no title or property interest in those areas. The Court struck the intergovernmental stipulations as irrelevant to the issues before it and denied Jordan’s petition to file the motion here, without prejudice to raising any rights in a proper district court. The United States was also granted the injunctive relief it sought.
Real world impact
The ruling affirms federal ownership of the specified offshore areas and prevents California from claiming title to them under the agreements struck by the Court. Parties occupying or leasing those submerged lands will lack state title and may face enforcement of the federal injunction. Any challenges to the stipulations or to rights under them must be brought in a district court.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Frankfurter noted that the Court did not consider the meaning, scope, or validity of the struck stipulations, and Justice Jackson took no part in this decision.
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