Cite as: 515 U. S. 1 (1995)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
uses in that State can be settled in the lower federal courts in California . . .").2
These principles should be applied here. Although I agree with the Court that the mere existence of pending litigation brought by individual storage contract holders against the United States in the Federal District Court in Wyoming is not dispositive, see ante, at 20-21, I see no reason (and the parties offer none) why Wyoming could not institute its own action against the United States in that forum.3 Moreover,
2 Our decision in California v. Nevada, 447 U. S. 125 (1980), is also on point. There, as here, we exercised our exclusive original jurisdiction over a dispute between two States, but we declined to expand the reference to the Special Master to include borderland ownership and title disputes that "typically will involve only one or the other State and the United States, or perhaps various citizens of those States." Id., at 133. Instead, we explained, "litigation in other forums seems an entirely appropriate means of resolving whatever questions remain." Ibid.
Subsequent to our decision in United States v. Nevada in 1973, we have, in the majority of actions by States against the United States or its officers, summarily denied the motion for leave to file a bill of complaint. See Georgia v. Nixon, President of the United States, 414 U. S. 810 (1973); Idaho v. Vance, Secretary of State, 434 U. S. 1031 (1978); Indiana v. United States, 471 U. S. 1123 (1985); Michigan v. Meese, Attorney General of the United States, 479 U. S. 1078 (1987); Mississippi v. United States, 499 U. S. 916 (1991). Accord, United States v. Florida, 430 U. S. 140 (1977) (per curiam) (denying motion by Florida for leave to file counterclaim).
3 The reason cannot be, as the Court seems to think, that "Wyoming's claim derives not from rights under individual contracts but from the decree, and the decree can be modified only by this Court." Ante, at 21. As I have explained, the first of these propositions is not correct. The second is correct, of course, but also irrelevant: Wyoming seeks not a modification of the decree but an injunction directing the United States to comply with applicable riparian law and with its contracts, thereby obviating the need for this Court to modify the decree. Thus, by "[p]utting aside . . . whether another forum might offer relief that, as a practical matter, would mitigate the alleged ill effects of the National Government's contract administration," ibid., the Court actually puts aside the only relief sought by the claim the Court allows to proceed.
As for standing, see ante, at 21, I simply repeat the Court's own discussion of this subject. In brief, Wyoming's standing is predicated
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