Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-1039_8n5a.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  594 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 

_________________ 

No. 19–1039 
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PENNEAST PIPELINE COMPANY, LLC, PETITIONER 
v. NEW JERSEY, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT 

[June 29, 2021] 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  ROBERTS  delivered  the  opinion  of  the 

Court. 

Eminent domain is the power of the government to take
property for public use without the consent of the owner.  It 
can be exercised either by public officials or by private par-
ties to whom the power has been delegated.  And it can be 
exercised either through the initiation of legal proceedings 
or simply by taking possession up front, with compensation 
to follow.  Since the founding, the United States has used
its  eminent  domain  authority  to  build  a  variety  of  infra-
structure projects.  It has done so on its own and through
private  delegatees,  and  it  has  relied  on  legal  proceedings 
and upfront takings.  It has also used its power against both
private property and property owned by the States. 

This  case  involves  one  of  the  ways  the  federal  eminent 
domain power can be exercised: through legal proceedings 
initiated  by  private  delegatees  against  state-owned  prop-
erty.  Specifically, we are asked to decide whether the Fed-
eral  Government  can  constitutionally  confer  on  pipeline
companies  the  authority  to  condemn  necessary  rights-of-
way in which a State has an interest.  We hold that it can.