United States v. Idaho, Ex Rel. Director, Idaho Department of Water Resources
Decided May 3, 1993. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 92-190 · 508 U.S. 1 (1993) · Cited 119 times
Holding
The McCarran Amendment does not waive the United States’ sovereign immunity from fees of the kind sought by Idaho.
The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.
How the Justices voted
Decided 9–0.
Majority · 8
Concurring · 1
- John Paul Stevens · filed a concurring opinion
“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.
Precedents cited
Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.
- United States Department of Energy v. Ohio · 503 U.S. 607 (1992)
- Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs · 498 U.S. 89 (1990)
- United States v. Kubrick · 444 U.S. 111 (1979)
- United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
- United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc. · 272 U.S. 1 (1926)
- Library of Congress v. Shaw · 478 U.S. 310 (1986)
- Ruckelshaus v. Sierra Club · 463 U.S. 680 (1983)
- Ardestani v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 502 U.S. 129 (1991)
- Smith v. United States · 507 U.S. 197 (1993)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
Explore from here
William Hubbs Rehnquist’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).