Editing Ellis Island (section)

===State sovereignty dispute===
[[File:Ellis Island 1890 - 1935 NPS map.jpg|thumb|left|State border after ''New Jersey v. New York'', 1998]]

The circumstances which led to an exclave of New York being located within New Jersey began in the colonial era, after the British takeover of [[New Netherland]] in 1664. A clause in the colonial land grant outlined the territory that the proprietors of New Jersey would receive as being "westward of Long Island, and Manhitas Island and bounded on the east part by the main sea, and part by Hudson's river."<ref>See: *{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |title=The Federal and State constitutions, colonial charters, and other organic laws of the state[s], territories, and colonies now or heretofore forming the United States of America /compiled and edited under the Act of Congress of June 30, 1906 |date=December 18, 1998 |access-date=April 4, 2010 |archive-date=September 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906103925/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/nj01.asp |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States |publisher=Gales and Seaton |series=Issue 20 |year=1832 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA479 479] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130050/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvA1AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }} *{{cite book |title=Historical Magazine: And Notes and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography of America |publisher=H. B. Dawson |year=1867 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA136 136] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |access-date=February 12, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130051/https://books.google.com/books?id=JW4-AQAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Gannett|1900|p=82}}

As early as 1804 attempts were made to resolve the status of the state line.<ref name="NPS-Legal-Status">{{Cite web |title=Ellis Island: Its Legal Status |publisher=General Services Administration Office of General Counsel |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf |access-date=September 25, 2010 |date=February 11, 1963 |archive-date=August 31, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831182303/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/stli/ellis_island_legal.pdf}}</ref> The [[government of New York City]] claimed the right to regulate trade on all waters. This was contested in ''[[Gibbons v. Ogden]]'', which decided that the regulation of interstate commerce fell under the authority of the federal government, thus influencing competition in the newly developing steam ferry service in [[New York Harbor]].<ref>{{ussc|name=Gibbons v. Ogden|link= |volume=22|page=1|pin= |year=1824 |reporter=Wheat.|reporter-volume=9}}</ref> In 1830, New Jersey planned to bring suit to clarify the border, but the case was never heard.<ref name="nyt19980527">{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=May 27, 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |title=The Ellis Island Verdict: The Ruling; High Court Gives New Jersey Most of Ellis Island |work=The New York Times |access-date=June 6, 2019 |archive-date=January 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113042835/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/27/nyregion/ellis-island-verdict-ruling-high-court-gives-new-jersey-most-ellis-island.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The matter was resolved with a compact between the states, ratified by [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in 1834.<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="HSR Main p. 11" /><ref name="Stakely p. 18" /> This set the boundary line at the middle of the Hudson River and New York Harbor; however, New York was guaranteed "exclusive jurisdiction of and over all the waters of Hudson River lying west of Manhattan and to the south of the mouth of [[Spuyten Duyvil Creek|Spuytenduyvil Creek]]; and of and over the lands covered by the said waters, to the low-water mark on the New Jersey shore."{{sfn|Gannett|1900|pp=78–79}} This was later confirmed in other cases by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]].<ref name="Justia209473" /><ref name="NPS-Legal-Status" /><ref>{{cite court |litigants=Application of Devoe Manufacturing Company for a Writ of Prohibition/Opinion of the Court |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |vol=108 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=401 |year=1882 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714141529/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Application_of_Devoe_Manufacuring_Company_for_a_Writ_of_Prohibition/Opinion_of_the_Court |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |title=Skeptical High Court Hears Case Over Pride and Acreage on Ellis I. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |date=January 13, 1998 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 11, 2020 |archive-date=September 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200907234255/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/13/nyregion/skeptical-high-court-hears-case-over-pride-and-acreage-on-ellis-i.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

New Jersey contended that the artificial portions of the island were part of New Jersey, since they were outside New York's border. In 1956, after the closure of the U.S. immigration station two years prior, the [[Mayor of Jersey City]] [[Bernard J. Berry]] commandeered a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and led a contingent of New Jersey officials on an expedition to claim the island.<ref name="Logan-McCarten">{{cite magazine |last1=Logan |first1=Andy |last2=McCarten |first2=John |title=Invasion from Jersey |magazine=The New Yorker |date=January 14, 1956 |page=19 |access-date=February 14, 2011 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |archive-date=January 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106090152/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1956/01/14/1956_01_14_019_TNY_CARDS_000252353 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jurisdictional disputes reemerged in the 1980s with the renovation of Ellis Island,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32504422/ |title=A tale of two cities: Both claim Ellis Island |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=June 20, 1982 |work=Daily News |location=New York |access-date=June 5, 2019 |page=75 |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130055/https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-a-tale-of-two-cities-both-cl/32504422/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and then again in the 1990s with the proposed redevelopment of the south side.<ref name="n32246752">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246752/ |title=Ellis Island mostly in N.J. |last=Seitz |first=Sharon |date=April 2, 1997 |work=Central New Jersey Home News |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32246787/ 6] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}} |archive-date=March 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329130102/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-central-new-jersey-home-news-ellis-i/32246752/ |url-status=live }}</ref> New Jersey sued in 1997.<ref name="n32246752" /> The lawsuit was escalated to the Supreme Court, which ruled in ''[[New Jersey v. New York]]''. {{Ussc|523|767|1998|el=no}}<ref name="nyt19980527" /><ref name="Justia523767">{{Cite court |litigants=New Jersey v. New York |reporter=U.S. |vol=523 |opinion=767 |year=1998 |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |quote=New Jersey has sovereign authority over the filled land added to the original Island. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104110500/https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/523/767/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Court rules Ellis Island is mostly in New Jersey |last1=Brogan |first1=Pamela |date=May 27, 1998 |work=Courier-Post |agency=Gannett News Service |location=Camden, NJ |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518085/ |access-date=October 7, 2022 |pages=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32518184/ 4] |via=newspapers.com {{open access}}}}</ref> The border was redrawn using [[geographic information science]] data:<ref>{{cite book |last=Cho |first=G. |title=Geographic Information Science: Mastering the Legal Issues |publisher=Wiley |series=Mastering GIS: Technol, Applications & Mgmnt |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-470-01355-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-nGK3Lr-DqQC&pg=PA37 |access-date=June 11, 2019 |page=37}}</ref> It was decided that {{cvt|22.80|acre}} of the [[Land reclamation|land fill]] area are territory of New Jersey and that {{cvt|4.68|acre}}, including the original island, are territory of New York.<ref name="ERIS" /> This caused some initial confusion, as some buildings straddled the interstate border.<ref name="nyt19980527" /> The ruling had no effect on the status of [[Liberty Island]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Fill Of The Jersey City Quadrangle Historic Fill Map HFM-53 |publisher=New State Department of Environmental Protection |year=2004 |url=http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |access-date=August 31, 2014 |archive-date=September 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906133806/http://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/geodata/historicfill/jersey.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Although the island remained under federal ownership after the lawsuit, New Jersey and New York agreed to share jurisdiction over the land itself. Neither state took any fiscal or physical responsibility for the maintenance, preservation, or improvement of any of the historic properties, and each state has jurisdiction over its respective land areas. Jersey City and New York City then gave separate tax lot numbers to their respective claims.<ref name="Justia523767" />{{efn|The boundaries remain the same as today.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ellis Island Part of Statue of Liberty National Monument |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |website=Maps |date=March 9, 2016 |url=https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190612041421/https://www.nps.gov/elis/planyourvisit/maps.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The New York side of the island is [[Tax assessment|assessed]] as Manhattan Block 1, Lot 201,<ref>{{cite web |title=An inaugural choice: Will N.J. governor's gala really be in New York? |url=https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |access-date=June 3, 2019 |website=silive.com |date=December 21, 2013 |quote=After the 1998 court event, both states agreed to share jurisdiction, even though the islands remain a wholly federal property. To cement those claims, New York assigned Ellis Island the tax designation of Block 1, Lot 201. The state of New Jersey gave the place its own tax number. |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022755/https://www.silive.com/opinion/2013/12/an_inaugural_choice_will_nj_go.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Robins|Urbanelli|1993|p=6}}</ref> while the portion of the island in New Jersey is assessed as Jersey City Block 21603, Lot 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.njspls.org/?130 |title=Is Liberty a Jersey Girl |date=February 4, 2014 |access-date=February 10, 2020 |publisher=New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors |archive-date=April 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421232806/http://www.njspls.org/?130 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tax Map Viewer – Jersey City |at=Sheet 216 |website=hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz |url=http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603022758/http://hostedfiles.civilsolutions.biz/jerseycity/taxmaps/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}