Harlan F. Stone

“ The only right or interest asserted in behalf of the United States is its authority under the Constitution to control navigable waters, and particularly the right to exercise that authority through the Federal Power Commission. ”

“ Until the right asserted is threatened with invasion by acts of the state, which serve both to define the controversy and to establish its existence in the judicial sense, there is no question presented which is justiciable by a federal court. ”

“ General allegations that the state challenges the claim of the United States that the rivers are navigable, and asserts a right superior to that of the United States to license their use for power production, raise an issue too vague and ill-defined to admit of judicial determination. ”