New Jersey v. New York facts for kids
Quick facts for kids New Jersey v. New York |
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| Argued January 12, 1998 Decided May 26, 1998 |
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| Full case name | State of New Jersey v. State of New York |
| Citations | 523 U.S. 767 (more)
118 S. Ct. 1726; 140 L. Ed. 2d 993; 1998 U.S. LEXIS 3405; 66 U.S.L.W. 4389; 98 Daily Journal DAR 5406; 1998 Colo. J. C.A.R. 2596; 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 563
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| Holding | |
| New Jersey has sovereign authority over the filled land added to the original Island. New Jersey's exception to that portion of the Special Master's report concerning the Court's authority to adjust the original boundary line between the two States is sustained. The other exceptions of New Jersey and New York are overruled. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Concurrence | Breyer, joined by Ginsburg |
| Dissent | Stevens |
| Dissent | Scalia, joined by Thomas |
| Laws applied | |
| 1834 Compact between New York and New Jersey | |
New Jersey v. New York, 523 U.S. 767 (1998), was a U.S. Supreme Court case that determined that roughly 83% of Ellis Island was part of New Jersey, rather than New York State.
History
The circumstances that led to an exclave of New York State being located within New Jersey began in the colonial era, after the British takeover of New Netherland in 1664. An unusual clause in the colonial land grant outlined the territory that the proprietors of New Jersey would receive as being "westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river," rather than at the river's midpoint, as was common in other colonial charters.
Attempts were made as early as 1804 to resolve the status of the state line. The City of New York claimed the right to regulate trade on all of its waters. That was contested in Gibbons v. Ogden, which decided that the regulation of interstate commerce fell under the authority of the federal government, which influenced competition in the newly developing steam ferry service in New York Harbor. In 1830, New Jersey planned to bring suit to clarify the border, but the case was never heard. The matter was resolved with a compact between the states, ratified by the US Congress in 1834, which set the boundary line between them as the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor but granted all the islands in the channel to New York. That was later confirmed by the US Supreme Court in other cases that expounded on the compact.
The federal government began expanding the island by land reclamation in the late 19th century to accommodate its immigration station, and the expansions continued in stages until 1934. New Jersey contended that the artificial portions of the island were part of New Jersey since they were outside New York's border. Jurisdictional disputes re-emerged in the 1980s, with the renovation of Ellis Island, and then again in the 1990s, with the proposed redevelopment of the south side. New Jersey sued in 1997. Since the land added by the federal government was not expressly granted to New York by the interstate compact, and it was placed in water that had been expressly granted to New Jersey, the majority ruled that the "new" land, which was now decades old, must belong to New Jersey. The minority used historical reasons and "common-sense inference" as its basis for supporting New York's claim.
Aftermath
According to the court decision, all land originally given to New York by the compact, the original natural Ellis Island remains under the jurisdiction of New York, but land reclaimed from the waters afterward is under the jurisdiction of New Jersey. The island covers a land area of 27.5 acres (11.1 ha).
Both states jointly negotiated a post-trial settlement to decide exactly where and how to draw the lines in accordance with the Supreme Court's decision. The 2.74-acre (1.11 ha) original island and other areas negotiated in the post-trial settlement, totaling 4.68 acres (1.89 ha), remain part of New York, which is a landlocked enclave within New Jersey.
The case is possibly the first to use a geographic information system in determining a Supreme Court decision.
Although the court decision has changed the state territorial sovereignty of most parts of the island, the actual current landowner and holder of the title of Ellis Island is the federal government. Very few activities on the island were directly affected by the transfer of sovereignty, but the decision affected some instances of sales taxes.
