80
Stevens, J., dissenting
County Water Authority on January 24, 2001, are null and void and the State of Maryland is enjoined from enforcing them. 4. The Court retains jurisdiction to entertain such further proceedings, enter such orders, and issue such writs as may from time to time be considered necessary or desirable to give proper force and effect to this Decree or to effectuate the rights of the parties. 5. The party States shall share equally in the compensation of the Special Master and his assistants, and in the expenses of this litigation incurred by the Special Master.
Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Kennedy joins, dissenting.
The basic facts that should control the disposition of this case are not in dispute. Maryland owns the water in the Potomac River to the low-water mark on the river's southern shore. Virtually the entire river is located within Maryland. Maryland is therefore the sovereign that exercises regulatory jurisdiction over the river, subject only to the provisions of the Maryland-Virginia Compact of 1785 (1785 Compact)1 and the Virginia and Maryland Boundary Agreement of 1878 (Black-Jenkins Award),2 and to the authority of the United States to preserve the river's navigability and protect its water quality.
Article Seventh of the 1785 Compact provides that the "citizens of each state respectively shall have full property in the shores of Potowmack river adjoining their lands, with all emoluments and advantages thereunto belonging," including the specific privilege of making wharves and other improvements, and a "right of fishing in the river [that] shall be common to, and equally enjoyed by, the citizens of both
1 1785-1786 Md. Laws ch. 1; 1785 Va. Acts ch. 17.
2 1878 Md. Laws ch. 274; 1878 Va. Acts ch. 246; Act of Mar. 3, 1879, ch. 196, 20 Stat. 481.
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