The Role of the Courts
(1 of 5)
The Courts Are the Arbiters of the Public Trust
- Courts are reluctant to interfere with the broad policy-making authority
of legislatures.
- Nonetheless, the Public Trust Doctrine may be asserted to protect the
public’s interest in navigable waters and their shores.
As you’ll recall from Module 1, this was the underlying holding in
the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1892 decision in Illinois Central Railroad
v. Illinois. The Court held that it could invalidate the sale of
the Chicago harbor bottomlands due to the state’s abdication of its
trustee responsibilities. In doing so, it established the standard for judicial
review of grants of Public Trust lands.
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