Opinion of the Court
that “the waters of the United States” principally refers to traditional navigable waters. 531 U. S., at 168–169, 172. That our CWA decisions operated under this assumption is unsurprising. Ever since Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1 (1824), this Court has used “waters of the United States” to refer to similar bodies of water, almost always in relation to ships. Id., at 218 (discussing a vessel’s “conduct in the waters of the United States”).[1]
The EPA argues that “waters” is “naturally read to encompass wetlands” because the “presence of water is ‘universally regarded as the most basic feature of wetlands.’ ” Brief for Respondents 19. But that reading proves too much. Consider puddles, which are also defined by the ordinary presence of water even though few would describe them as “waters.” This argument is also tough to square with SWANCC, which held that the Act does not cover isolated ponds, see 531 U. S., at 171, or Riverside Bayview, which would have had no need to focus so extensively on the adjacency of wetlands to covered waters if the EPA’s reading were correct, see 474 U. S., at 131–135, and n. 8. Finally, it is also instructive that the CWA expressly “protect[s] the primary responsibilities and rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution” and “to plan the development and use … of land and water resources.”
- ↑ See, e.g., United States v. Alvarez-Machain, 504 U. S. 655, 661, n. 7 (1992) (discussing a treaty “to allow British passenger ships to carry liquor while in the waters of the United States”); Kent v. Dulles, 357 U. S. 116, 123 (1958) (discussing a prohibition on boarding “vessels of the enemy on waters of the United States”); New Jersey v. New York City, 290 U. S. 237, 240 (1933) (enjoining employees of New York City from dumping garbage “into the ocean, or waters of the United States, off the coast of New Jersey”); Cunard S. S. Co. v. Mellon, 262 U. S. 100, 127 (1923) (holding that the National Prohibition Act did not apply to “merchant ships when outside the waters of the United States”); Keck v. United States, 172 U. S. 434, 444–445 (1899) (holding that concealing imported goods on vessels “at the time of entering the waters of the United States,” without more, did not constitute smuggling).
