JURIST - Paper Chase: Supreme Court considers state water boundary, trust tax cases

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in New Jersey v. Delaware [case backgrounder; merit briefs], 134, Orig., to revisit a century-old water boundary dispute between the two states. In 2005, New Jersey filed suit [JURIST report] against Delaware over British Petroleum's (BP) plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant on New Jersey's side of the Delaware River. Delaware refused to approve construction of a 2,000-foot pier that would serve the facility. Under boundary determinations settled by the Supreme Court in 1934 in New Jersey v. Delaware, Delaware controls the river up to the mean low-tide mark on the New Jersey shore, but New Jersey has asked the Court to declare that a 1905 interstate compact gives it the right to control riparian access and structures on its side of the river, even if they extend across the border. Earlier this year, a Court-appointed Special Master found [report, PDF] that Delaware has the authority to block the pier. AP has more.

The Court also heard oral arguments [transcript, PDF] Tuesday in Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue [LII case backgrounder; merit briefs], 06-1286, concerning whether investment-advice fees incurred by a trust may be fully deducted on the trust's income tax return under 26 USC 67 [text].

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