Virginia v. Maryland

Virginia v. Maryland, 540 U.S. 56 (2003), was a 2003 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that settled a centuries long dispute between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland regarding Virginia's riparian rights to the Potomac River. The Court held in a 7–2 decision that Maryland did not have legal authority to regulate or prohibit Virginia and its citizens from building or improving structures on the river or drawing water from it.

Background

The dispute between Virginia and Maryland over the water rights to the Potomac River dates back to at least the 18th century, and eventually led to the Mount Vernon Conference and the Compact of 1785. The Compact provided that citizens of both states would have navigation and commerce rights to the river, but, significantly, did not settle the boundary between them. Nearly a century of boundary disputes followed, until the two states submitted to binding arbitration in 1877. The "Black-Jenkins" arbitration award granted Maryland ownership of the riverbed, while recognizing Virginia's right to navigate the river, and set its boundary at the low-water mark along the Virginia shore.

Relative peace followed after the Black-Jenkins Award, with Maryland freely granting Virginia entities permits to draw water from the Potomac. However, the conflict flared up again in 1996, when Maryland refused to allow the Fairfax County Water Authority permission to create a new water intake facility, fearing urban sprawl on the Virginia side of the river. That refusal led to Virginia filing this case with the Supreme Court of the United States in 2000.