Court Opinion

ID: 9427898
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:12.737793+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:10.384756
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Powell,
with whom Mr. Justice Stewart and Mr. Justice Rehnquist join,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur in the Court’s opinion except with respect to its disposition of the “second stated issue.” Ante, at 266-272. As framed by the Special Master, the second issue is whether Louisiana has “the obligation to account for revenues received by it from mineral leases on areas lying within Zone 1. . . .” Ante, at 260. The Special Master found that the State had no such obligation. The United States filed an exception, and the Court sustains it.
I would accept the recommendations of the Master on all three issues, including his finding that Louisiana has no obligation to account for revenues derived from Zone 1. The latter finding certainly is not free from doubt, but the able Master has a more intimate familiarity with this “long-continuing and sometimes strained controversy,” ante, at 254, than an appellate judge possibly can acquire by studying only the available record. Although we have the duty to make an independent judgment, I cannot conclude that the Master’s finding on the second stated issue is erroneous. Accordingly, I dissent on this issue.