New Jersey v. Delaware

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New Jersey v. Delaware

Original jurisdiction
Argued November 27, 2007
Decided March 31, 2008

Full case name:	New Jersey v. Delaware

Citations:	552 U.S.

Outcome

Court membership

Chief Justice: John Glover Roberts, Jr.
Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito

Case opinions

Majority by: Ginsburg
Joined by: Roberts, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas; Stevens (in part)
Concurrence/dissent by: Stevens
Dissent by: Scalia
Joined by: Alito
Breyer took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Laws applied

1905 Interstate Compact between the two states

New Jersey v. Delaware is United States Supreme Court case in which New Jersey sued Delaware, invoking the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1251(a), following Delaware's denial of oil company BP's petition to build a natural gas loading facility on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. Delaware denied BP's petition because the construction would require dredging of underwater land within Delaware's borders, which extend to the low-tide mark of the New Jersey shore. Delaware's curious border is the result of a grant by King Charles II in 1681 (when the Delaware Colony was leased by William Penn from King Charles to become the three lower counties of Pennsylvania), extending the state's northern border by a 12-mile circle centered in New Castle, Delaware, extending across the Delaware River to prevent Pennsylvania from being landlocked. The post-1681 border gave present-day Delaware full ownership of the Delaware River along a stretch of the New Jersey border.

The Supreme Court appointed a special master to review the case and held, in a 6-2 decision, that Delaware can block the project, even though BP proposed it for New Jersey's side of the river. The only two dissenting Justices, (Scalia and Alito), are both from New Jersey.