What Is HeinOnline?
HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
Log In
![handle is hein.journals/dukjppsid10 and id is 1 raw text is:
KANSAS V. NEBRASKA &
COLORADO: KEEPING EQUITY
AFLOAT IN THE REPUBLICAN
RIVER DISPUTE
CHARLES PUNIA*
I. INTRODUCTION
The trouble that sovereigns experience in apportioning scarce
resources among themselves has led to many disputes throughout
history1 The Supreme Court has addressed this problem between the
States via its power to hear cases of original jurisdiction.2 Here, the
States may petition the Court directly,3 as the Court alone may
provide a remedy in cases involving disputes between them.4 In
Kansas v. Nebraska & Colorado,5 the Court will consider a dispute
between Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado concerning the
apportionment of a scarce resource: the water from the Republican
River Basin.6
The Court appointed a Special Master to make recommendations
in Kansas v. Nebraska & Colorado.7 The Special Master found that
Nebraska used more than its share of water, but a mutual mistake in
the three states' accounting procedures overstated some of
Nebraska's use.8 Additionally, the Special Master found that Kansas
* J.D. Candidate, Duke University School of Law, 2016.
1. Charles M. Courtney, Casenote, Nebraska v. Wyoming and Colorado Allocating Water
Rights to Interstate Rivers: Equitable Principles and the Role of Substantial Injury, 3 DICK. J.
ENVTL. L. & POL'Y 89, 89 (1994).
2. See U.S. CONST. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. (The judicial Power shall extend . . . to
Controversies between two or more States.).
3. See, e.g., Kansas v. Nebraska, 131 S. Ct. 1847, 1847 (2011).
4. See 28 U.S.C.A. § 1251 (West 2014) (providing the Supreme Court with exclusive
jurisdiction over cases between sovereign states).
5. Kansas v. Nebraska, No. 126, Original (U.S. argued Oct. 14, 2014).
6. Report of the Special Master at 1, Kansas v. Nebraska, No. 126, Original (U.S. Jan. 13,
2014) [hereinafter Fourth Report].
7. Kansas v. Nebraska, 131 S. Ct. at 1847.
8. Fourth Report, supra note 6, at 187.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/dukjppsid10&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)