Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-404_i5ea.pdf
Page Number: 10

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

as if the premises were under the exclusive jurisdiction of 
the  State.”  Washington  reads  the  statute’s  language
broadly  to  “effectuat[e]  a  complete  waiver  of  intergovern-
mental  immunity  as  to  workers’  compensation  on  federal
lands  or  projects.”  Brief  for  Respondents  34  (emphasis 
added).  And Washington asserts that it has acted within
the  scope  of  this  waiver  by  “apply[ing]”  a  “state  workers’ 
compensation law” to federal “lands” and “projects” at the 
Hanford site just “as if the premises were under the exclu-
sive jurisdiction of the State.” 

In  our  view,  however,  §3172’s  waiver  does  not  “clearly
and unambiguously” authorize a State to enact a discrimi-
natory law that facially singles out the Federal Government
for  unfavorable  treatment.  One  can  reasonably  read  the 
statute  as  containing  a  narrower  waiver  of  immunity,
namely, as only authorizing a State to extend its generally 
applicable  state  workers’  compensation  laws  to  federal 
lands and projects within the State. 

For one thing, the statute requires state enforcement au-
thorities  to  apply  state  laws  to  federal  premises  “in  the 
same way and to the same extent as if the premises were
under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  State.”  §3172(a).
The  “in  the  same  way  and  to  the  same  extent”  language
suggests that the statute contemplates laws that could ap-
ply to state, as well as to federal, premises and employees.

The  statute  also  gives  to  “[t]he  state  authority  charged 
with  enforcing  . . .  the  state  workers’  compensation  laws” 
the power to “apply the laws to” federal lands and projects. 
Ibid.  (emphasis  added).    This  language  seems  to  contem-
plate application of state provisions that apply at least in
part  to  nonfederal  (i.e.,  state  and private)  workers.    After 
all,  those  are  the  laws  that  state  enforcement  authorities 
ordinarily enforce.

Further, the title of the statutory waiver provision refers 
to  the  “Extension  of  state  workers’  compensation  laws  to 
buildings, works, and property of the Federal Government.”