Firebaugh Canal Co. v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
203 F.3d 568 · 2000
Citation profile
13 federal appellate · 1 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 36 later decisions — most recently March 2025 · most notably Calloway v. District of Columbia (2000), 134 F. Supp. 2d 1111 - United States v. Westlands Water District (2001)
13 federal appellate · 1 district · 2 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · Bennett v. Spear · Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill · Morton v. Mancari · Posadas v. National City Bank
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The statute directs that the “principal engineering features of said unit shall be [a dam, reservoir, etc.] and necessary ... drains.” Id. (emphasis added). The term “shall” is usually regarded as making a provision mandatory, and the rules of statutory construction presume that the term is used in its ordinary sense unless there is clear evidence to the contrary. Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154 , 117 S.Ct. 1154 , 137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997). Here, there is no evidence that Congress misused the term “shall” or intended that the word is precatory, as asserted by the Government. Thus, although the Department of the Interior was only authorized (and not required) to construct the unit, once it decided to construct the unit, it was required to construct “necessary ... drains” as part of the unit. In other words, the Department’s discretion was limited to the decision whether to build the unit, not to pick and choose which “principal engineering features” to include in the unit-Congress made that decision.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“With the exception of FY 94, FY 95, FY 96, and the continuing resolution years of FY 83 and FY 79, Congress has placed nearly identical limits on funds provided to the Bureau of Reclamation. The most recent rider states, "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used to determine the final point of discharge for the interceptor drain for the San Luis Unit until development by the Secretary of the Interior and the State of California of a plan, which shall conform with the water quality standards of the State of California as approved by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to minimize any detrimental effect of the San Luis drainage waters.” Pub.L. No. 105-62, § 510 (a), 111 Stat. 1320 , 1340 (1997).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Construction of the San Luis unit shall not be commenced until the Secretary has ... received satisfactory assurance from the State of California that it will make provision for a master drainage outlet and disposal channel for the San Joqauine Valley, as generally outlined in the California water plan, Bulletin Numbered 3, of the California Department of Water Resources, which will adequately serve, by connection therewith, the drainage system for the San Luis unit or has made provision for constructing the San Luis interceptor drain to the delta designed to meet the drainage requirements of the San Luis unit as generally outlined in the report of the Department of the Interior, entitled “San Luis Unit, Central Valley Project, ” dated December 17, 1956.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.