Cite as: 507 U. S. 584 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
M. Tymkovich, Solicitor General, and Wendy C. Weiss, First Assistant Attorney General.
Richard A. Simms, Special Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for plaintiff State of Nebraska. With him on the briefs were Don Stenberg, Attorney General, Marie C. Pawol, Assistant Attorney General, James C. Brockmann, and Jay F. Stein.
Jeffrey P. Minear argued the cause for the United States. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Starr, Acting Assistant Attorney General O'Meara, Edwin S. Kneedler, Andrew F. Walch, and Patricia L. Weiss.*
Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. In this original action we revisit the dispute among Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, and the United States over water rights to the North Platte River. In 1945, this Court entered a decree establishing interstate priorities on the North Platte and apportioning the natural flow of one critical portion of the river during the irrigation season. Nebraska returned to the Court in 1986 seeking an order for enforcement of the decree and injunctive relief. A Special Master, appointed by the Court, has supervised pretrial proceedings and discovery since 1987. Before us now are the Special Master's recommended dispositions of several summary judgment motions, together with exceptions filed to the Special Master's reports.
I
The North Platte River rises in northern Colorado and flows through Wyoming into Nebraska, where it joins the South Platte River. The topology of the river and the history of its early development are described at length in the Court's 1945 opinion. See Nebraska v. Wyoming, 325 U. S.
*Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Basin Electric Power Cooperative by Edward Weinberg, Richmond F. Allan, Michael J. Hinman, and Claire Olson; and for the National Audubon Society et al. by Peter A. A. Berle and Abbe David Lowell.
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