Charles Evans Hughes

“ That decree in terms bound the state of Illinois, no less than its creature, the sanitary district. In delivering the opinion of the court, Mr. Justice Holmes summed up the matter by saying: 'It already has been decided that the defendants are doing a wrong to the complainants and that they must stop it. They must find out a way at their peril. We have only to consider what is possible if the State of Illinois devotes all its powers to dealing with an exigency to the magnitude of which it seems not yet to have fully awaked. It can base no defences upon difficulties that it has itself created. ”

“ The adjudication as to the right of the complainant states to have the diversion reduced as provided in the decree is an adjudication not merely as against the sanitary district but as against the state as the defendant responsible under the Federal Constitution to its sister states for the acts which its creature and agent, the sanitary district, has committed under the state's direction. ”

“ It is urged that the act of Congress discloses an intention to control the extent of the diversion in aid of the waterway. We find in the provision no evidence of any controlling purpose. Intention and future action remain a matter of conjecture. Whatever its intention or authority, the Congress has taken no action which affects the operation of the decree, but on the contrary has adopted the amount fixed in the decree as the limit of permitted withdrawal. ”