In the 1906 case of Elder v. Colorado ex rel. Badgley, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over water rights in Colorado between two parties: Elder and Badgley. The court ruled that under the laws of prior appropriation (which governs water use in many western states), whoever first puts water to beneficial use has superior rights to it, regardless of who owns the land adjacent to its source. In this case, although Elder owned land next to a stream's source, he did not have superior rights because Badgley had been using the water for irrigation purposes before him. Therefore, despite owning property closer to where the stream originated from than his rival claimant (Badgley), Elder was denied priority access due to his later usage date.

In the dissenting opinion for Elder v. Colorado Ex Rel. Badgley, the justice disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a state law that allowed for tax exemptions on certain properties used exclusively for educational purposes. The justice argued that this exemption was unconstitutional as it violated equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment by creating an unfair and arbitrary distinction between different types of property owners - those who use their property for education and those who do not. Furthermore, they contended that such a policy could lead to favoritism or discrimination in taxation policies based on subjective determinations of what constitutes 'educational' use of property, which is contrary to principles of fairness and equality inherent in constitutional law.