Missouri v. Illinois Case Brief

Missouri v. Illinois 200 U.S. 496 (1906) • Chicago had a problem; they were dumping raw, untreated sewage into Lake Michigan, which also happened to be the source of their drinking water. • Lots of people were dying from cholera. • As a solution, they decided to start dumping 1500 tons per day of their raw, untreated sewage into the Mississippi River instead. Problem solved! • Except that the Mississippi River was the source of all of St. Louis' drinking water. • Typhoid fever deaths in St. Louis increased 77%. • Illinois argued that any increased deaths were probably a result of other cities in Missouri dumping their sewage into the river. • Missouri sued Illinois to get an injunction to stop them from poisoning St. Louis residents. • Missouri argued that this was a public nuisance under the common law. • Defined as ' an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public'. • The key word is 'unreasonable'. • Since this was a 'dispute between the States' as defined in the Constitution, the US Supreme Court had original jurisdiction to hear the case directly. • Illinois argued that they didn't, but the Court ruled that they did. • The US Supreme Court found for Illinois and refused to issue an injunction. • The Court looked to the scientific evidence available at the time and decided that any bacteria being released in Chicago would be long dead by the time they reached St. Louis, so any increase in disease couldn't possibly be coming from the sewage. • Missouri couldn't establish that their water quality had declined because of Chicago. • The Court was swayed by the fact that Missouri had not stopped Missouri cities upstream of St. Louis from dumping their sewage into the Mississippi. Why should Illinois be held to a higher standard than Missouri was requiring for their citizens? • The Court suggested that St. Louis start filtering their water if they were concerned about disease. • Interestingly, 15 years later, Illinois was sued by other States for diverting too much water from Lake Michigan to flush out their sewage system (they were actually lowering the water level in the lake). Missouri joined Illinois to keep the water flowing so that more Project Wonderful -Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0water would reach St. Louis. • Illinois lost, an injunction was issued, and Chicago had to finally build a sewage treatment plant to handle their sewage.