Wyoming v. Colorado

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Wyoming v. Colorado

Argued December 6, 7, 8, 1916
Reargued January 9, 10, 1918
Reargued January 9, 10, 1922
Decided June 5, 1922

Full case name:	State of Wyoming v. State of Colorado et al.

Citations:	459 U.S. 419; 259 U.S. 419, 42 S.Ct. 552, 66 L.Ed. 999

Prior history:	In equity.

Subsequent history:	Petition for rehearing granted October 9, 1922. 260 U.S. 1 Motion to dismiss denied May 31, 1932. 286 U.S. 494

Holding

Colorado could divert a limited amount of water from an interstate stream system as long as it did not interfere with Wyoming's previously established (prior appropriation) right to the same stream system.

Court membership

Chief Justice: William Howard Taft
Associate Justices: Joseph McKenna, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., William R. Day, Willis Van Devanter, Mahlon Pitney, James Clark McReynolds, Louis Brandeis, John Hessin Clarke

Case opinions

Majority by: Van Devanter
Joined by: unanimous court

Wyoming v. Colorado 259 U.S. 419 (1922) is a set of court cases, all dealing with water distribution from the Laramie River. Petition for rehearing was granted 260 U.S. 1 (1922) which revised the original decision. A motion to dismiss was later denied. 286 U.S. 494 (1932)

When two states have a controversy between each other, the case is filed for original jurisdiction with the United States Supreme Court. This is one of the very limited circumstances where the court acts with original jurisdiction, e.g. a trial court. In all other cases the court acts as the highest level appellate court in the United States.

The state of Wyoming brought an action against the state of Colorado to prevent the diversion of a stream system. Wyoming claimed the doctrine of prior appropriation granted them superior rights to the stream water, since they claimed the water first, and that Colorado's proposed diversion would leave them with an insufficient supply of water.

The court upheld Wyoming's prior appropriation water rights, preventing Colorado's proposed diversion of the stream system as originally planned. However, the court allowed Colorado to divert a lesser amount of water, as long as it did not interfere with Wyoming's prior water usage. After in depth fact-finding of the exact amount of water used by Wyoming, the court determined that Colorado could divert no more than 15,500 acre-feet per year of water from the interstate stream system.