Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-454_4g15.pdf
Page Number: 49.0

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

15 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

channels of interstate commerce over which Congress tra-
ditionally exercised authority. 

3 
This understanding of the term “navigable waters”—i.e., 
as shorthand for waters subject to Congress’ authority un-
der the Daniel Ball test—persisted up to the enactment of 
the CWA.  See, e.g., Stoeco Homes, Inc., 498 F. 2d, at 608– 
609; United States v. Joseph G. Moretti, Inc., 478 F. 2d 418, 
428–429 (CA5 1973); see also D. Guinn, An Analysis of Nav-
igable Waters of the United States, 18 Baylor L. Rev. 559, 
579 (1966) (“[T]he test of The Daniel Ball and Appalachian 
Power  Co.  are  religiously  cited  as  being  the  basis  for  the 
holding on the issue of navigability”).  As a court observed 
near the time of the CWA’s enactment, “[a]lthough the def-
inition  of  ‘navigability’  laid  down  in  The  Daniel  Ball  has 
subsequently  been  modified  and  clarified,  its  definition  of
‘navigable water of the United States,’ insofar as it requires
a navigable interstate linkage by water, appears to remain
unchanged.”  Hardy  Salt  Co.  v.  Southern  Pacific  Transp. 
Co., 501 F. 2d 1156, 1167 (CA10 1974) (citations omitted). 
This Court’s cases, too, continued to apply traditional navi-
gability concepts in cases under the River and Harbor Acts 
right  up  to  the  CWA’s  enactment.   See  United  States  v. 
Standard Oil Co., 384 U. S. 224, 226 (1966) (holding that 
spilling oil in a navigable water was prohibited by the Re-
fuse Act (§13 of the 1899 Act) because “its presence in our 
rivers and harbors is both a menace to navigation and a pol-
lutant”);  United  States  v.  Republic  Steel  Corp.,  362  U. S. 
482, 487–491 (1960) (“diminution of the navigable capacity 
of  a  waterway”  required  for  violation  of  the  Refuse  Act). 
Thus, on the eve of the CWA’s enactment, the term “navi-
gable waters” meant those waters that are, were, or could 
be used as highways of interstate or foreign commerce.