The title of this post ends with a parenthesis because ... this first case of the five we will discuss today is not really a matter of statutory interpretation but an exercise of the Court's equitable powers within its area of original jurisdiction. The other four will involve federal statutes: scout's honor. We will spend more than half of what follows on the always pressing issues of criminal sentencing. But let's work up to that, and start out with a aquifier in Dixie. An Interstate Riparian Dispute Back in November, SCOTUS dismissed a complaint from Mississippi in its dispute with Tennessee over a groundwater aquifer. The intriguing thing in this case is that Mississippi's claim was so outrageous one wonders what has happened to the state AG's office, or what happened within it, that could have led to the making of such a futile argument. Defying a very broad consensus, Mississippi argued that in allowing the Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Divisi...