Washington, D.C. – Georgia is running into more resistance in its bid to convince the Supreme Court to overturn a critical court ruling that undermined the state's water rights.
The Justice Department has recommended that the high court not take up the case, maintaining in a brief filed last week that Georgia's arguments are flawed and that the issue is not significant enough to merit Supreme Court attention.
Georgia asked the Supreme Court in August to overturn a lower court decision that invalidated a 2003 agreement between Georgia and the Army Corps of Engineers. The agreement would have allowed Georgia to take far more water from Lake Lanier, a massive federal reservoir that provides most of Atlanta's water.
The reservoir is at the heart of a nearly two-decade water feud among Georgia, Florida and Alabama.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)