Opinion ID: 8938355
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statute On Its Face.

Text: The States’ contention that the Act ipso facto grants them submerged land rights of three leagues in the Gulf may be shortly answered. The terms of the statute require rejection of such a construction. Rather the measure of the grant in excess of three miles is made to depend entirely upon the location of a State’s original or later Congressionally approved maritime boundary, subject only to the three-league limitation of the grant. 'We turn next to the question whether, as the States contend, the first of the two alternative requirements of § 2 — a boundary which “existed at the time such State became a member of the Union” — is satisfied merely by showing a preadmission boundary, or whether, as the Government claims, that requirement contemplates only a boundary that carries the legal consequences of the event of admission. While it is manifest that the second requirement of § 2 — a boundary which was “heretofore approved by Congress” — must take into account the effect of Congressional action, it is not clear from the face of the statute that the same is true of the first requirement — a  boundary “as it existed at the time [a] State became a member of the Union.” The Government argues that in construing the first requirement of § 2 the effect of Congressional action cannot be ignored because to do so would be to measure the boundary prior to the time a State became a member of the Union, and “at the time” cannot mean “prior to the time.” However, it might be contended with equal force that to take account of the effect of Congressional action would be to measure the boundary after the' time the State became a member of the Union, and “at the time” cannot mean “after the time.” Indeed, if “at the time” were to be taken in a perfectly literal sense, it could refer only to the timeless instant before which the consequences of not being a State would obtain, and after which the consequences of statehood would follow, leaving unanswered the question whether the effect of Congressional action was to be considered or not. In short, if the term is to be given content it must be read as referring either to some time before or after the instant of admission, or to both times. As an aid to construction of “at the time” in § 2, the Government points to § 4, the last sentence of which states: “Nothing in this section is to be construed as questioning or in any manner prejudicing the existence of any State’s seaward boundary beyond three geographical miles if it was so provided by its constitution or laws prior to or at the time such State became a member of the Union, or if it has been heretofore approved by Congress.” (Emphasis supplied.) It is urged that the disjunctive use of the terms “prior to” and “at the time” shows that the latter must have been used to refer to the time after admission, since the phraseology would otherwise be redundant, and that such meaning should also be attributed to the same term in § 2,  thereby including the effect of Congressional action. But, as has already been indicated, “at the time” inherently can also be taken as referring to the preadmission period, thereby excluding the effect of such action. And on that basis there would be no redundancy in the phrase “prior to or at the time” if “at the time” meant immediately before the instant of admission and “prior to” referred to times substantially prior to admission; yet this would nonetheless exclude the effect of Congressional action. So far as the statute itself is concerned, the Government’s argument is thus inconclusive. Nor do the States’ arguments upon the face of the statute illumine the meaning of “at the time” as used in § 2. They contend that the meaning of § 2 is explained or clarified by the last sentence of § 4. According to them, a boundary “existed at the time [a] State became a member of the Union” (§2) if “it was so provided by its constitution or laws prior to or at the time such State became a member of the Union . . . .” (§4.) Under this view, whatever the meaning of “at the time,” the existence of a state constitutional or statutory three-league provision prior to admission would conclusively establish the boundary contemplated by the Act, irrespective of the character of Congressional action upon admission. However, this provision appears not in the definitional or granting sections of the statute (§ § 2 or 3), but in § 4, the purpose of which is to approve and confirm the boundaries of all States at three miles, and to negative any prejudice which might thereby result to claims in excess of three miles. It thus does not define the grant, but at most describes the claims protected from prejudice by § 4 in terms of their most likely nature. A fair reading of the section does not point to the conclusion that claims of this nature were deemed to be self-proving. Finally, there is no indication on the face of the statute whether the Executive policy of the United States on the  extent of territorial waters is a relevant circumstance in ascertaining the location of state seaward boundaries for purposes of the Act. Because the statute on its face is inconclusive as to these issues, we turn to the legislative history.