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Opinion of O'Connor, J.
Colorado's fourth exception is overruled.
V
We remand the case to the Special Master for preparation of a final judgment consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Justice O'Connor, with whom Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the Court's disposition of this case as to Colorado's first and fourth exceptions to the Special Master's Third Report, concerning the award and determination of damages. I therefore join Parts I, IV, and V of the Court's opinion. I do not concur in Parts II and III of the Court's opinion because I believe that the award of prejudgment interest to Kansas, coming over half a century after the Arkansas River Compact's (hereinafter Compact) negotiation and approval, is clearly improper under our precedents.
We are dealing with an interstate compact apportioning the flow of a river between two States. A compact is a contract. It represents a bargained-for exchange between its signatories and "remains a legal document that must be construed and applied in accordance with its terms." Texas v. New Mexico, 482 U. S. 124, 128 (1987); see also Petty v. Tennessee-Missouri Bridge Comm'n, 359 U. S. 275, 285 (1959) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) ("A Compact is, after all, a contract"). It is a fundamental tenet of contract law that parties to a contract are deemed to have contracted with reference to principles of law existing at the time the contract was made. See, e. g., Norfolk & Western R. Co. v.
be required." Third Report 63. Because the circumstances in Kansas involved short-short run situations, and because such short-short run situations generally involve higher values for water, values derived from other contexts are of limited use in evaluating Kansas' model. See ibid.
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