Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/143orig_1qm1.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  595 U. S. ____ (2021) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 143, Orig. 
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STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, PLAINTIFF v. TENNESSEE, 
CITY OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, AND MEMPHIS 
LIGHT, GAS & WATER DIVISION 

ON EXCEPTIONS TO REPORT OF SPECIAL MASTER 

[November 22, 2021]

 CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 

Court. 

The City of Memphis sits on the banks of the Mississippi 
River  in  the  southwest  corner  of  Tennessee.    Arkansas 
marks the City’s western border, and Mississippi its south-
ern.  Hundreds  of  feet  beneath  Memphis  lies  one  of  the 
City’s most valuable resources: the Middle Claiborne Aqui-
fer.  Workers discovered the aquifer in 1886 while drilling 
a well for the Bohlen-Huse Ice Company.  Ever since, water 
pumped  from  the  aquifer  has  provided  Memphis  with  an
abundant supply of clean, affordable drinking water.

The Middle Claiborne Aquifer underlies other States too,
including Mississippi.  This case began in 2014 when Mis-
sissippi invoked our original jurisdiction and sought leave
to  file  a  bill  of  complaint  against  Tennessee.   Mississippi 
alleges  that  Tennessee’s  pumping  has  taken  hundreds  of 
billions of gallons of water that were once located beneath 
Mississippi.  It seeks at least $615 million in damages, as 
well as declaratory and injunctive relief.  We granted Mis-
sissippi leave to file its complaint and appointed a Special 
Master to oversee proceedings.  The Special Master has now