Georgia v. South Carolina (1990)

Last updated
Georgia v. South Carolina
Seal of the United States Supreme Court.svg
Argued January 8, 1990
Decided June 25, 1990
Full case nameGeorgia v. South Carolina
Citations497 U.S. 376 ( more )
42 S. Ct. 597; 66 L. Ed. 1069
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr.  · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall  · Harry Blackmun
John P. Stevens  · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia  · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinions
PluralityBlackmun, joined by O'Connor, Brennan
DissentStevens, joined by Scalia
DissentWhite, joined by Marshall
DissentScalia, joined by Kennedy
DissentKennedy, joined by Rehnquist
Laws applied
Treaty of Beaufort

Georgia v. South Carolina, 497 U.S. 376 (1990), is one of a long series of U.S. Supreme Court cases determining the borders of the state of Georgia. In this case, the Court decided the exact border within the Savannah River and whether islands should be a part of Georgia or South Carolina. It also decided the seaward border. [1]

Contents

Background

In 1787, the two states agreed in the Treaty of Beaufort that the boundary along the Savannah River was the river's "most northern branch or stream," "reserving all islands in [the river] to Georgia". [2] In a subsequent 1922 Supreme Court decision, also called Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U.S. 516, also held that all islands in the river belong to Georgia, but that the border should be in the middle of the river between the two shores, with the border halfway between any island and the South Carolina shore.

Since the 1922 case, a number of new islands had been created in the river between the city of Savannah and the ocean, due to the deposit of dredging spoilage or the natural deposit of sediments. In some cases, the new islands were on the South Carolina side of the previously drawn boundary, and Georgia claimed that once a new island emerged, the border should be moved to the midpoint between the new island and the South Carolina shore of the river. In some cases, the state of South Carolina had been collecting property tax from the land owners and policing the land in question for a number of years. [3]

When an island causes the border to leave the middle of the river, it raises the question as to how the border line should return to the middle of the river at each end of the island. South Carolina advocated a right angle bend at each tip of the island, while Georgia advocated a "triequidistant" method which kept the border an equal distance between the two shores and the tip of the island (resulting in a smooth curve.) [4]

The Savannah River north of Elba Island was particularly wide, and the Army Corps of Engineers built a training wall to narrow the channel to prevent it from filling up with silt. The Corps also filled the area behind the training wall with dredging spoilage. Both South Carolina and Georgia claimed the land that was created behind the training wall, even though it was on the South Carolina side of the river. This new land was called "Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal". [5]

Given the valuable natural resources off the Atlantic Ocean shore, the two states also contested where the off-shore boundary between the two states is located. The typical procedure would be to locate the mouth of the Savannah River and then draw a line perpendicular to the shore from the midpoint of the river's mouth. However, the river does not have a clearly defined mouth. Tybee Island forms the southern edge of its mouth, but there is no highlands on the opposite side. South Carolina claimed that a submerged shoal formed the north side of the mouth, while Georgia claimed that Hilton Head Island was the north side of the mouth. The issue is complicated by a bend in the Atlantic coast at this point with Georgia's coast about 20 degrees from true north and South Carolina's coast about 47 degrees from true north. [6] A perpendicular line drawn from each of these angles results in an overlapping 27 degree wedge claimed by both states.

In 1978, the Court appointed Walter E. Hoffman, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, as special master to gather the facts and make a recommendation. [7]

Opinion of the Court

Justice Blackmun delivered a plurality opinion and held that the new island on the South Carolina side of the border belonged to that state rather than Georgia. Georgia had lost the right to that land through prescription and acquiescence. He also found that any new islands emerging after the border was drawn would not cause the border to automatically shift so as to place the island in Georgia. The Court also adopted Georgia's "triequidistant" method for determining the boundary around the existing islands, resulting in the border line curving around those islands. [8]

The Court awarded Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal to Georgia because its creation was "primarily avulsive in nature." The Court also placed the newly emerged Bird Island in Georgia. [9] The Court also set a compromise seaward boundary drawing it perpendicular to a line between Tybee Island and Hilton Head.

Justice White, joined by Justice Marshall, dissented in part. They would draw the boundary at islands at right angles to the tips of the islands back to the middle of the river. [10]

Justice Stevens, joined by Justice Scalia, dissented from the seaward boundary portion of the opinion. This opinion would average the angles of the Georgia and South Carolina coast lines and draw the boundary at an azimuth of this boundary would be approximately 123 1/2 degrees. [1]

Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Kennedy, dissented from the Denwill and Horseshoe Shoal portion of the opinion and would place that land in South Carolina. [1]

Justice Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist, dissented from the portions of the opinion finding that newly formed islands belong in whatever state has that portion of the river. Kennedy reads the Treaty as giving all islands to Georgia, so Kennedy would place them in Georgia unless they were lost by prescription and acquiescence. Accordingly, Kennedy agrees with the majority that the Barnwell Islands belong to South Carolina. [11]

One history text described the case, "In 1990 the United States Supreme Court awarded South Carolina 7,000 acres of water and 3,000 acres of land along the Savannah River, increasing the size of the state by four and a half square miles." [12]

Related Research Articles

Byron White Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, American football player

Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White was an American lawyer and professional football player who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. Born and raised in Colorado, he played college football, basketball, and baseball for the University of Colorado, finishing as the runner up for the Heisman Trophy in 1937. He was selected in the first round of the 1938 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates and led the National Football League in rushing yards in his rookie season. White was admitted to Yale Law School in 1939 and played for the Detroit Lions in the 1940 and 1941 seasons while still attending law school. During World War II, he served as an intelligence officer with the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre. After the war, he graduated from Yale and clerked for Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson.

Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 U.S. 419 (1793), is considered the first United States Supreme Court case of significance and impact. Given its date, there was little available legal precedent. The case was superseded in 1795 by the Eleventh Amendment.

Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that districts in the United States House of Representatives must be approximately equal in population. Along with Baker v. Carr (1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964), it was part of a series of Warren Court cases that applied the principle of "one person, one vote" to U.S. legislative bodies.

Shoal Natural submerged sandbank that rises from a body of water to near the surface

In oceanography, geomorphology, and earth sciences, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. Often it refers to those submerged ridges, banks, or bars that rise near enough to the surface of a body of water as to constitute a danger to navigation. Shoals are also known as sandbanks, sandbars, or gravelbars. Two or more shoals that are either separated by shared troughs or interconnected by past or present sedimentary and hydrographic processes are referred to as a shoal complex.

Tennessee River River in the southeastern United States

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles (1,049 km) long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as many of the Cherokee had their territory along its banks, especially in eastern Tennessee and northern Alabama. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee village Tanasi.

Lake Strom Thurmond

Lake Strom Thurmond, officially designated J. Strom Thurmond Reservoir at the federal level, and Clarks Hill Lake by the state of Georgia, is a reservoir at the border between Georgia and South Carolina in the Savannah River Basin.

Machias Seal Island Disputed island in the Gulf of Maine

Machias Seal Island is an island in disputed water between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, about 16 km (10 mi) southeast from Cutler, Maine, United States and 19 km (12 mi) southwest of Southwest Head, New Brunswick, Canada on Grand Manan Island. It is a neighbour to North Rock. Sovereignty of the island is disputed. The Canadian Coast Guard continues to staff a lighthouse on the island; the first lighthouse was constructed there in 1832.

Henry Baldwin (judge)

Henry Baldwin was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 6, 1830, to April 21, 1844.

In law, acquiescence occurs when a person knowingly stands by without raising any objection to the infringement of his or her rights, while someone else unknowingly and without malice aforethought acts in a manner inconsistent with their rights. As a result of acquiescence, the person whose rights are infringed may lose the ability to make a legal claim against the infringer, or may be unable to obtain an injunction against continued infringement. The doctrine infers a form of "permission" that results from silence or passiveness over an extended period of time.

Tugaloo River River in the United States of America

The Tugaloo River is a 45.9-mile-long (73.9 km) river bordering the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. It was named for the Cherokee town of Tugaloo at the mouth of Toccoa Creek, near present-day Toccoa, Georgia and Travelers Rest in Stephens County, Georgia. It is fed by the Tallulah River and the Chattooga River, which each form an arm of Lake Tugalo, on the edge of Georgia's Tallulah Gorge State Park. The Tugaloo then flows out of the lake via Tugaloo Dam, passing into Lake Yonah and through Yonah Dam. The river then ends as an arm of Lake Hartwell, as does South Carolina's Seneca River. After flowing out of Lake Hartwell, it is called the Savannah River.

The Treaty of Beaufort, also called the Beaufort Convention, is the treaty that originally set the all-river boundary between the U.S. states of Georgia and South Carolina. It was named for Beaufort, South Carolina, where it was signed in 1787.

Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, 505 U.S. 1003 (1992), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established the "total takings" test for evaluating whether a particular regulatory action constitutes a regulatory taking that requires compensation.

Florida v. Georgia, 58 U.S. 478 (1854), was a United States Supreme Court case invoking the Court's original jurisdiction to determine boundary disputes between states. In this case the boundary dispute was between the State of Florida and the State of Georgia.

Piscataqua River border dispute

The Piscataqua River border dispute was a dispute between the US states of Maine and New Hampshire over ownership of Seavey’s Island in the Piscataqua River, which forms the border between Maine and New Hampshire. The dispute was settled in 2002 by the US Supreme Court in favor of Maine.

Deptford culture Archaeological culture in the United States of America

The Deptford culture was an archaeological culture in southeastern North America characterized by the appearance of elaborate ceremonial complexes, increasing social and political complexity, mound burial, permanent settlements, population growth, and an increasing reliance on cultigens.

James Moore Wayne Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1835–1867)

James Moore Wayne was an American attorney, judge and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1835 to 1867. He previously served as the 16th Mayor of Savannah, Georgia from 1817 to 1819 and the member of the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's at-large congressional district from 1829 to 1835, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Andrew Jackson. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

State of Alabama v. State of Georgia, 64 U.S. 505 (1860), is a 9-to-0 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that the true border between the states of Alabama and Georgia was the average water mark on the western bank of the Chattahoochee River. In coming to its conclusion, the Court defined what constituted the bed and bank of a river. The case has had international repercussions as well. The Supreme Court's definition was adopted by courts in the United Kingdom in the case Hindson v. Ashby (1896) 65 LJ Ch. 515, 2 Ch. 27.

Aboriginal title in the Marshall Court Court era recognizing Native American tribal rights

The Marshall Court (1801–1835) issued some of the earliest and most influential opinions by the Supreme Court of the United States on the status of aboriginal title in the United States, several of them written by Chief Justice John Marshall himself. However, without exception, the remarks of the Court on aboriginal title during this period are dicta. Only one indigenous litigant ever appeared before the Marshall Court, and there, Marshall dismissed the case for lack of original jurisdiction.

The Jacob Brown Grant Deeds, also known more simply as the Nolichucky Grants, were transactions for the sale of land by the Cherokee Nation to Jacob Brown. The transaction occurred at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River on March 25, 1775. The Jacob Brown grants were for two large tracts along the Nolichucky River some of which had been previously leased from the Cherokee.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Georgia v. South Carolina, 497 U.S. 376, 412 (1990).
  2. 497 U.S. at 376-77.
  3. 497 U.S. at 392-3.
  4. 497 U.S. at 401.
  5. 497 U.S. at 402.
  6. 497 U.S. at 406.
  7. 497 U.S. at 379.
  8. 497 U.S. at 401-02.
  9. 497 U.S. at 405.
  10. 497 U.S. at 411-12.
  11. 497 U.S. at 416.
  12. Edgar, Walter B. (1998). South Carolina: a history. Univ of South Carolina Press. p. 3. ISBN   9781570032554 . Retrieved 2011-03-12.

Further reading