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.
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] While the ruling changed little in practice (Ellis Island is federal land), it did affect the allocation of sales tax revenue and future development plans for the island.[1]
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]
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 in a 6 to 3 decision. 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]
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]
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]
^"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.
^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."
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"
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