Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas

Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, 458 U.S. 941 (1982), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court decided that a Nebraska statute forbidding commercial exportation of water from Nebraska was unconstitutional in that it violated the dormant commerce clause.

Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 30, 1982 Decided July 2, 1982
Full case name	Sporhase v. Nebraska ex rel. Douglas, Attorney General
Citations	458 U.S. 941 (more) 102 S. Ct. 3456; 73 L. Ed. 2d 1254; 1982 U.S. LEXIS 13
Holding
The Nebraska statute forbidding commercial exportation of water from Nebraska was unconstitutional in that it violated the dormant commerce clause.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	Stevens, joined by Burger, Brennan, White, Marshall, Blackmun, Powell
Dissent	Rehnquist, joined by O'Connor
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Art. I § 8

The boundary between the states of Nebraska and Colorado passed through a farm owned by Sporhase. He drilled a well in Nebraska and used the water to irrigate his land on both sides of the boundary. Under the 11th Amendment, he could not sue the state of Nebraska in a federal district court; consequently his suit had to proceed in the state courts in Nebraska until he petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review it.