Texas Water Wars: Texas v. New Mexico

In February 2013, Texas filed suit against New Mexico and Colorado in the United States Supreme Court in a battle concerning the Compact.   Although Texas sued both New Mexico and Colorado, it appears that Colorado was named only because they are party to the treaty at issue.  All of Texas’ claims are based upon alleged wrongful conduct by and in New Mexico. It may seem strange that the lawsuit was actually filed in (as opposed to being appealed to) the United States Supreme Court.  The reason for this is that the United States Constitution provides original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court for all disputes between states.  In this instance, a state must file a motion seeking permission to file the complaint and a brief explaining why the Court should hear the case.  So now that the motion has been filed, the Court will decide whether to hear the case.  In making that decision, the Court considers three factors:  (1) whether the dispute is truly between states (as opposed to disputes between state agencies or private claims); (2) the seriousness of the dispute–specifically looking at whether this type of conflict would lead to war between sovereign nations; and (3) whether an alternative forum is available to decide the dispute.