United States v. California

Although recent Supreme Court decisions leave me with no clear concept of what Congress must say in order to require the federal government to comply with state law, I am persuaded that the language of the statute reviewed here is insufficient to validate California’s permit procedure. While the “shall” in section 8 of the 1902 *1352Reclamation Act appears to be mandatory, and while the Bureau of Reclamation’s conduct over nearly three-quarters of a century indicates that it had no doubt of the necessity for compliance with state law, I cannot say that the language of the section is any clearer or…