Oklahoma v. Textas

Background

Oklahoma sued Texas to establish the true boundary where the line follows the Red River from the 100th meridian to Oklahoma’s eastern border. The dispute grew from the 1819 treaty, later treaties, and an earlier Supreme Court case in which the United States sued Texas over Greer County. After oil and gas were discovered in the riverbed near Wichita County, competing claims multiplied, the United States intervened, and a receiver was appointed while the Court framed two legal questions for decision.

Reasoning

The Court first asked whether the prior decision in United States v. Texas had already decided that the treaty boundary ran along the Red River’s south bank. The Court examined the earlier record, pleadings, evidence, and the opinion, and found that the bank-versus-mid-channel issue had been raised, argued, and expressly decided and included in the final decree. Because that question was directly determined in a prior final judgment, the Court held it was final and conclusive and declined to reexamine the treaty’s meaning.

Real world impact

The ruling settles the disputed boundary along the Red River as described in the earlier decree and therefore determines which state owns particular riverbed areas. That resolution affects who holds title to islands and the bed, and who controls oil and gas extraction tied to those lands. The Court did not redecide the treaty’s merits on the second question because the first question was final; the parties were ordered to submit a decree to implement the decision.

Dissents or concurrances

One justice did not participate in the decision; no dissenting or concurring opinions are reported in the text.