Florida v. Georgia (2018)
Florida v. Georgia, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in an original jurisdiction case. It involves a long-running dispute over waters within the ACF River Basin, running from the north Georgia mountains through metro Atlanta to the Florida panhandle, which is managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Waters in the area have been stressed by the population growth of Atlanta over previous decades. The immediate case stemmed from droughts in 2011 and 2012 that caused economic damage to Florida due to lower water flows from the ACF River Basin into the panhandle, impacting its seafood production; Florida sought relief to have more water allocated towards them from the ACF by placing a water allocation cap on Georgia. The Supreme Court assigned a special master to review Florida's complaint, but ultimately found in 2016 that Florida had not fully demonstrated the need for more allocation. Florida challenged this determination to the Supreme Court. On June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court ruled 5–4 that the special master had not properly considered Florida's argument and remanded the case to be reheard and reviewed.
Florida v. Georgia | |
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Supreme Court of the United States | |
Argued January 8, 2018 Decided June 27, 2018 | |
Full case name | Florida v. Georgia |
Docket no. | 22O142 |
Citations | 585 U.S. ___ (more) 138 S. Ct. 2502; 201 L. Ed. 2d 871 |
Argument | Oral argument |
Holding | |
Florida made a legally sufficient showing as to the possibility of fashioning an effective remedial decree equitably apportioning the water of the ACF basin. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Breyer, joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor |
Dissent | Thomas, joined by Alito, Kagan, Gorsuch |
Subsequently, the court replaced the special master, who later ruled against Florida in the dispute. Florida challenged the conclusions of the special master's report, but the Supreme Court overruled Florida's exceptions and unanimously dismissed the case in Florida v. Georgia, 592 U.S. ___ (2021).