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McCarran Amendment (Suits for adjudication of water rights)

43 U.S.C. § 666 · 1952

Holding

Statute, not a case: it waives federal sovereign immunity so the United States may be joined as a defendant in comprehensive suits for the adjudication or administration of rights to the use of water of a river system or other source, with process served on the Attorney General, while expressly not authorizing joinder in interstate original actions in the Supreme Court.

Why it matters for settlements

The jurisdictional hinge of tribal water litigation: as construed in Colorado River (1976), it consents to state general-stream adjudications of federal and tribal reserved rights, which is where most tribal claims are quantified or settled.

Read the primary record (uscode.house.gov)

Statute entry; primary_url is the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (uscode.house.gov) rather than CourtListener/supremecourt.gov, which host cases, not the U.S. Code. Enacted July 10, 1952, ch. 651, title II, §208(a)-(c), 66 Stat. 560.

Sources

Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. Code (section text; source credit: July 10, 1952, ch. 651, title II, §208(a)-(c), 66 Stat. 560) (uscode.house.gov, retrieved 2026-09-01)
Justia syllabus of Colorado River v. United States (construction of § 666 as applied to Indian reserved rights) (supreme.justia.com, retrieved 2026-09-01)