Supreme Court rules against Calif. farmers in water use case

Individual farmers may not sue the federal government to enforce water contracts entered into by their irrigation districts, a unanimous Supreme Court said Thursday in a ruling that limits landowners' ability to seek compensation for reduced flows. Two dozen farmers from California's Central Valley wanted the federal government to pay them about $32 million as compensation for water they were supposed to get under a federal contract. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation diverted the water to comply with Endangered Species Act requirements to protect two threatened fish. But the federal government argued its contract with the Westlands Water District only allowed lawsuits by the district itself - not by individual landowners who are its members. The state of California and the water district agreed, contending that letting farmers sue the government directly could result in a rash of cases and undermine water districts' ability to do business with the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages water in the West. Justices concluded that the 1982 Reclamation Reform Act "does not permit a plaintiff to sue the United States alone," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court....

===