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petition for a rule requiring the State of Colorado to show cause why it <br />should not be adjudged in contempt for violation of former decrees in that <br />suit,,restraining diversions of water from the Laramie River.,(259 U.S.. <br />419, 496; 26o U,S, 1; 286 U.S.: 494; 298 U.S. 573). There arose the <br />question of whether the state had the right to control the use and distri -, <br />bution,. with -in its borders, of that portion of the water which was allotted <br />to the State by the earlier decisions of the Court. It was claimed by <br />certain water users within the State of Colorado that the Court had, in <br />addition to making an equitable apportionment of water between the two <br />states,, determined the amount which individual appropriators could take <br />within the State of Colorado.. If this contention had.been sustained, it <br />would have meant that the Supreme Court of the United States exercised <br />its jurisdiction to determine the use and distribution of water within <br />the state irrespective of previous adjudication by decrees of the state <br />court. However,. the Court held in construing its former decisions: <br />" * ** That it was not intended to restrict Colorado in determi)aIng <br />the use of water of the river, according to Colorado laws and <br />adjudications, provided the diversions did not exceed the aggrem . <br />gate amount of 39,750 acre feet to which Colorado was entitled, <br />is clear from the ruling upon another branch of the case,," <br />" * ** The thing which the decree recognizes and confirms is Athe <br />right of the State of Colorado, or of anyone recognized by her <br />as duly entitled there, . . to divert and take4 the water in» <br />cludecT in the designated appropriations ". <br />The Court observed that: <br />" * ** it was not its purpose Ito withdraw water claims dealt with <br />therein from the operation of local laws relating to their trans- <br />fer or to restrict their utilization in ways not affecting the <br />rights of one State and her claimants as against the other State <br />and her claimants.t" <br />w5— <br />