New Jersey v. New York
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 12, 1998
Decided May 26, 1998
Full case nameState of New Jersey v. State of New York
Citations523 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
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
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
David Souter · Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
MajoritySouter, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer
ConcurrenceBreyer, joined by Ginsburg
DissentStevens
DissentScalia, 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.

Because the New Jersey original 1664 land grant was unclear, the states of New Jersey and New York disputed ownership and jurisdiction over the Hudson River and its islands. The two states entered into a compact ratified by Congress in 1834, which set a boundary line to be the middle of the Hudson River, but giving all islands in the river (including Ellis Island) to New York. From 1890 to 1934, the federal government expanded Ellis Island through land reclamation to accommodate its immigration station. Starting in the 1980s, New Jersey contended that the new portions of the Ellis Island were part of New Jersey. New Jersey filed suit in 1997.

In a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that because the 1834 compact gave New Jersey jurisdiction over submerged land around Ellis Island, the new land was in New Jersey, not New York.[1] The ruling changed little in practice, because Ellis Island is federal land. The ruling did though change allocation of sales tax revenue, and future development plans for the island.[1]

History

After the British takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the Province of New Jersey was founded as a separate entity from the Province of New York. An unusual clause in New Jersey's colonial land grant named the territory 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,"[2] rather than at the river's midpoint, as was common in other colonial charters.[3]

The boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey remained disputed around the Hudson River. The states convened conferences as early as 1807 to resolve the state line but did not reach agreement.[4] In 1831, New Jersey sued New York in the Supreme Court over the dispute, but dropped the case in 1836.[1][5] Instead, the two states negotiated a compact in 1833, ratified by the US Congress in 1834. Among other agreements, the compact established that New York owned Ellis Island, but New Jersey owned the submerged lands around Ellis Island.[1][6]

Map of Ellis Island showing New York in dark green surrounded by New Jersey

The federal government, which owned Ellis Island, expanded it from 2.74 acres (1.11 ha) to 27.5 acres (11.1 ha) by land reclamation between 1890 and 1934 to support its use as an immigration station.[7][8][9] New Jersey contended that the artificial portions of the island were part of New Jersey because the submerged land under it belonged to New Jersey.[10] Jurisdictional disputes re-emerged in the 1980s, with the renovation of Ellis Island,[11] and then again in the 1990s, with proposed redevelopment of the south side.[12]

In 1992, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that New York's law should apply in a case that happened on the new part of the island.[1]

Court case

New Jersey sued in 1993.[12] The Supreme Court appointed Paul R. Verkuil to be special master to gather evidence in the decision. In 1997, Verkuil recommended in favor of New Jersey's claim to the artificial parts of Ellis Island. In 1998, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey. Since the land added by the federal government was not expressly granted to New York by the interstate compact, and it had been 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.[1]

According to the court decision, the original 2.74-acre Ellis Island remains under the jurisdiction of New York, but land reclaimed from the waters afterward is under the jurisdiction of New Jersey.[13] The island covers a land area of 27.5 acres (11.1 ha).[9][14][15]

Aftermath

Both states jointly negotiated a post-trial settlement to decide the borders 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) (17.0%), remain part of New York, which is a landlocked enclave within New Jersey.[9][14][15]

The case is possibly the first to use a geographic information system in determining a Supreme Court decision.[16]

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.[1][13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Greenhouse, Linda (May 27, 1998). "The Ellis Island Verdict: the Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ "The Duke of York's Release to John Lord Berkeley, and Sir George Carteret". The Avalon Project. The Federal and State constitutions, colonial charters, and other organic laws of the states, territories, and colonies now or heretofore forming the United States of America compiled and edited under the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906. June 24, 1664.
  3. ↑ Rieff, Henry, "Interpretations of New York-New Jersey Agreements 1834 and 1921" (PDF), University of Newark Law Review 29 (1936): 29–46, archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2012
  4. ↑ GSA 1963 pp. 9–10 (pp. 12–13 in PDF). "Numerous attempts mere made to settle the dispute. Commissioners representing the two states met at Newark in 1807, but no agreement was reached."
  5. ↑
    • For New Jersey lawsuit, see GSA (1963) p. 10 (p. 13 in PDF). The 1831 Supreme Court case is New Jersey v. New York, 5 Pet. 284 (1831). "In 1829, no agreement having been reached, New Jersey filed a bill in equity against New York in the Supreme Court of the United States."
    • For New Jersey's dropping the lawsuit, see GSA (1963) p. 11 (p. 14 in PDF). "Three years later, on February 15, 1836, New Jersey dismissed its suit against New York in the Supreme Court of the United States"
    GSA (1963).
  6. ↑ Stakely, Tracy (May 2003). Cultural Landscape Report for Ellis Island (PDF). Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. p. 18.
  7. ↑ To see the series of enlargements, see Beyer Blinder Belle (1988) pp. 47–60
  8. ↑ "Ellis Island, New Jersey, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for over 12 million immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station for over sixty years from 1892 until 1954". Home | Library of Congress. August 24, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  9. 1 2 3 Richard G. Castagna; Lawrence L. Thornton; John M. Tyrawski. "GIS and Coastal Boundary Disputes: Where is Ellis Island?". ESRI. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved November 17, 2013. The New York portion of Ellis Island is landlocked, enclaved within New Jersey's territory. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ↑ Logan, Andy; McCarten, John (January 14, 1956). "Invasion from Jersey". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  11. ↑ Moritz, Owen (June 20, 1982). "A tale of two cities: Both claim Ellis Island". New York Daily News. p. 75. Retrieved June 5, 2019 – via newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. 1 2 Seitz, Sharon (April 2, 1997). "Ellis Island mostly in N.J." Central New Jersey Home News. pp. 1, 6 – via newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. 1 2 "New Jersey v. New York – 523 U.S. 767 (1998)". Justia. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  14. 1 2 Shaw, Tammy L. "Supreme Court Decides Ownership of Historic Ellis Island". Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2013.
  15. 1 2 Biskupic, Joan (May 27, 1998). "N.J. Wins Claim to Most of Ellis Island". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 12, 2014.
  16. ↑ Cho, George (2005), Geographic Information Science: Mastering the Legal Issues, Wiley and Sons, ISBN 9780470013557

General references

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