United States v. Commonwealth of PR

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

In 1952, Congress enacted the McCar-ran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. § 666, a law that waived the sovereign immunity of the United States in suits for the general adjudication or administration of water rights. This appeal turns on the scope of that waiver.

The underlying litigation flows from Puerto Rico’s efforts to impose restrictions on the extraction of water from a river known as the Rio Blanco. The Commonwealth asserts that the McCarran Amendment divests the United States of its sovereign immunity in respect to the compelled participation of the United States Navy in…