Judicial branch · Landmark case
New Jersey v. New York
523 U.S. 767 (1998) · Opinion of the Court
What you should know
This page explains the Court’s holding in plain language, where the official text lives, and what to check next.
Supreme Court findings are not news summaries. The controlling document is the Court’s opinion, plus any concurrences or dissents. Use this profile to understand the holding, then verify language, syllabus, and docket history on official sources before relying on a secondary account. This is one of a small category of cases the Supreme Court hears directly, without any lower court first — a dispute between two states, under the Court’s original jurisdiction.
The Court held that New Jersey, not New York, has sovereign authority over roughly 24.5 acres of Ellis Island created by landfill after an 1834 interstate compact fixed the boundary between the two states. New York retained sovereignty only over the original, natural 3.5-acre island specifically named in the compact — the artificially filled land added later reverted to New Jersey’s side of the boundary line the compact had set.
Background
An 1834 compact between New York and New Jersey, approved by Congress, set the boundary between the states at the midpoint of the Hudson River and New York Harbor — placing Ellis Island on New Jersey’s side of that line, except for a specific carve-out preserving New York’s existing jurisdiction over the island as it stood at the time. Over the following decades, the federal government expanded Ellis Island through landfill to roughly seven times its original size to accommodate the immigration station. New Jersey argued the compact’s carve-out applied only to the original island, not to land added later.
The Court agreed. Because the 1834 compact specifically preserved New York’s “present” jurisdiction as of that date, and the filled land didn’t exist yet, the added acreage fell back under the compact’s general boundary rule — putting it on New Jersey’s side of the line.
A rare, genuinely split-jurisdiction landmark: Ellis Island’s historic buildings sit in New York, but most of the surrounding land is New Jersey.
The ruling has real practical effects on which state’s laws, taxes, and services apply to different parts of the island. It’s also a clean example of how the Supreme Court resolves direct disputes between states under its original jurisdiction — a distinct process from the appellate cases that make up the vast majority of its docket.
Vote and authorship
| Majority | Souter, J. (opinion of the Court) |
|---|---|
| Join | Rehnquist, C.J., O’Connor, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer |
| Concurrence | Breyer, J., joined by Ginsburg |
| Dissent | Stevens, J.; Scalia, J. (joined by Thomas) |
Ellis Island lies in New York Harbor 1,300 feet from Jersey City, New Jersey, and one mile from the tip of Manhattan.
Justice Souter · New Jersey v. New York
How it fits in government
Judicial branch
An example of the Supreme Court’s rarely-used original jurisdiction — hearing a dispute directly between two states, rather than reviewing a lower court’s decision.
State & local government
A direct dispute between two state governments over sovereign territory — jurisdiction that determines which state’s laws and taxes actually apply.
Interstate compacts
The 1834 compact at the center of this case shows how states can legally fix boundaries between themselves, with Congress’s consent, under the Constitution’s Compact Clause.
Official records visitors may need
SupremeCourt.gov
Opinions, docket search, rules, and Court information.
Opinion text (LII)
Readable public text of the case.
Opinion text (Justia)
Alternate readable version of the case.
GovInfo · U.S. Courts
Official publications and related federal court materials.
Related research paths
Interstate compacts
The Compact Clause and how states legally bind themselves to agreements with each other.
Supreme Court original jurisdiction
The small category of cases the Court hears directly, without a lower court first.
State sovereignty and boundaries
How state lines are legally established and occasionally disputed.
Landmark cases guide
Other holdings that define state and federal authority.