KANSAS v. NEBRASKA

No. 126, Orig.

135 S.Ct. 1042 (2015)

191 L.Ed.2d 1

State of KANSAS, Plaintiff v. States of NEBRASKA and Colorado.

Supreme Court of United States.

Decided February 24, 2015.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

John B. Draper , Special Assistant Attorney General, Draper & Draper LLC, Jeffrey J. Wechsler , Montgomery & Andrews, P.A., Santa Fe, NM, Derek Schmidt , Attorney General of Kansas, Stephen R. McAllister , Solicitor General of Kansas, Counsel of Record, Jeffrey A. Chanay , Deputy Attorney General, Christopher M. Grunewald , Assistant Attorney General, Burke W. Griggs , Special Assistant Attorney General, Bryan C. Clark , Assistant Solicitor General, Topeka, KS, for Petitioner.

John W. Suthers , Attorney General of Colorado, Daniel D. Domenico , Solicitor General, Scott Steinbrecher , Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Department of Law, Counsel of Record, Denver, CO, for Respondent.

Jon Bruning , Attorney General of Nebraska, David D. Cookson , Chief Deputy Attorney General, Justin D. Lavene , Assistant Attorney General, Counsel of Record, Office of the Attorney General, Donald G. Blankenau, Thomas R. Wilmoth , Special Assistant Attorneys General, Blankenau Wilmoth Jarecke LLP, Lincoln, NE, for Respondent.

Steve N. Six , Attorney General of Kansas, John B. Draper , Counsel of Record, Montgomery & Andrews, P.A., Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

Vincent L. McKusick , Special Master, Portland, ME, for Final Report of the Special Master with Certificate of Adoption of RRCA Groundwater Model.

John W. Suthers , Attorney General of Colorado, Daniel D. Domenico , Solicitor General, Peter J. Ampe , First Assistant Attorney General, Autumn Bernhardt , Assistant Attorney General, Federal and Interstate Water Unit, Natural Resources and Environment Section, State of Colorado, Office of the Attorney General Denver, CO, for Respondents.

Carla J. Stovall , Attorney General of Kansas, John W. Campbell , Chief Deputy Attorney General, John M. Cassidy , Assistant Attorney General, Leland E. Rolfs , Special Assistant Attorney General, John B. Draper , Counsel of Record, Special Assistant Attorney General, Andrew S. Montgomery , Montgomery & Andrews, P.A., Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

Don Stenberg , Attorney General of Nebraska, David D. Cookson , Assistant Attorney General, Counsel of Record, Lincoln, NE, Bartholomew L. McLeay , Special Assistant Attorney General, Omaha, NE, for Respondents.

Ken Salazar , Attorney General, Barbara McDonnell , Chief Deputy Attorney General, Michael E. McLachlan , Solicitor General, Felicity Hannay, Deputy Attorney General, Wendy Weiss , First Assistant Attorney General, Alexandra L. Davis , Assistant Attorney General, Natural Resources and Environment Section, Attorneys for State of Colorado, Denver, CO, for Respondents.

Don Stenberg , Attorney General of Nebraska, Marie Pawol , Assistant Attorney General, Counsel of Record, Lincoln, NE, Bartholomew L. McLeay , Special Assistant Attorney General, Omaha, NE, for Respondents.

Don Stenberg , Attorney General of Nebraska, for Respondents.

KAGAN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which KENNEDY, GINSBURG, BREYER, and SOTOMAYOR, JJ., joined, and in which ROBERTS, C. J., joined as to Parts I and III. ROBERTS, C. J., and SCALIA, J., filed opinions concurring in part and dissenting in part. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which SCALIA and ALITO, JJ., joined, and in which ROBERTS, C. J., joined as to Part III.


For the second time in little more than a decade, Kansas and Nebraska ask this Court to settle a dispute over the States' rights to the waters of the Republican River Basin, as set out in an interstate compact. The first round of litigation ended with...

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