Cite as: 523 U. S. 767 (1998)
Stevens, J., dissenting
prescription of the entire Island relates to Representative Norton's efforts in 1934 and 1935 to persuade federal officials to use New Jersey labor in construction work on Ellis and Bedloe's Islands. In her letter of August 25, 1934, she advised the Division of Procurement of the Treasury Department that a local union in her home city contended 15 that
"these islands are part and parcel of the State of New Jersey." 16 On March 19, 1935, she again advanced the position that Ellis Island was in New Jersey. When the Treasury Department ultimately rejected her submission, the matter appears to have been dropped.
Representative Norton's correspondence fails to establish nonacquiescence for several reasons. First, it demonstrates that people in New Jersey were actually aware of what was happening on Ellis Island. Second, when the Treasury Department ultimately rejected Representative Norton's sub-15 In a letter of July 31, 1934, the union wrote to Representative Norton: "At the present time on Ellis Island there are under the course of erection several buildings and from maps obtained by us of the Department of Conservation and Development of the State of New Jersey, the latest edition of which was printed and revised in 1932 [sic] show specifically that this Island is entirely within the boundary lines of the State of New Jersey. This being the case we feel that Unions in New Jersey should have jurisdiction over this work and have protested to our International Union for the right to cover this operation." N. J. Exh. 18 (letter of Thomas F. Moore, Secretary, Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union, Local No. 10, New Jersey, to Honorable Mary T. Norton).
Similarly, on August 18, 1934, the union wrote to Representative Norton:
"Since the middle part of June this union has sought jurisdiction of those Islands lying in New York Bay, known as Ellis and Bedloes Islands, from the Executive Board of our International Union. It is our contention that these Islands are part and parcel of the State of New Jersey. We have also obtained official maps of the State of New Jersey . . . which shows [sic] that these Islands lie within the boundary lines of the State of New Jersey." N. J. Exh. 28 (letter of Thomas F. Moore, Secretary, Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union, Local No. 10, New Jersey, to Honorable Mary T. Norton).
16 N. J. Exh. 29 (letter of Honorable Mary T. Norton, House of Representatives, to Division of Procurement, Treasury Department).
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