Cite as: 540 U. S. 56 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
scriptive period ended, at the latest, in February 2000, when Virginia sought leave to file a bill of complaint in this Court. Accordingly, Maryland has asserted a right to regulate Virginia's water withdrawal for, at most, 43 years, and a right to regulate waterway construction for, at most, 32 years. Only once before have we deemed such a short period of time sufficient to prove prescription in a case involving our original jurisdiction. See Nebraska v. Wyoming, 507 U. S. 584, 594-595 (1993) (41 years). In that case, we held that Nebraska's sovereign right to water stored in certain inland lakes was established by a decree issued in 1945. Id., at 595. We held, in the alternative, that "Wyoming's arguments are foreclosed by its postdecree acquiescence" for 41 years. Ibid. Here, it is Virginia's sovereign right that was clearly established by a prior agreement, and Maryland that seeks to defeat those rights by showing Virginia's acquiescence. Under these circumstances, it is far from clear that such a short prescriptive period is sufficient as a matter of law. Cf. New Jersey, 523 U. S., at 789 (noting that a prescriptive period of 64 years is "not insufficient as a matter of general law"). But even assuming such a short prescriptive period would be adequate to overcome a sovereign right granted in a federally approved interstate compact, Maryland's claim fails because it has not proved Virginia's acquiescence.
To succeed on the acquiescence prong of her defense, Maryland must show that Virginia "failed to protest" her assertion of sovereign authority over waterway construction and water withdrawal. Id., at 807.10 As the Special Master found, however, Virginia vigorously protested Maryland's asserted authority during the negotiations that led to the passage of § 181 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1976 (WRDA), 90 Stat. 2939-2940, codified at 42 U. S. C. § 1962d-11a.
10 Maryland's evidence that Virginia has never operated a permitting system for water withdrawal or waterway construction is insufficient to satisfy Maryland's burden. See New Jersey, 523 U. S., at 788, n. 9.
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