The United States Supreme Court case of UNITED STATES et al. v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD CO. et al., 1933, revolved around a dispute over the ownership and control of submerged lands beneath Lake Michigan in Chicago Harbor. The Illinois Central Railroad had been granted these lands by the State of Illinois but later sold them to private entities without state approval, leading to legal action from both federal and state governments claiming that this sale was invalid as it violated public trust doctrine - which asserts that certain natural resources are preserved for public use and cannot be sold or transferred to private ownership. The court ruled in favor of the government, stating that such land is held in trust by the states for their people; therefore its transfer into private hands would abrogate this duty. This decision affirmed an earlier ruling (Illinois Central Railroad Co v Illinois) where it was established that states hold title to submerged lands under navigable waters within their boundaries – not only preserving these areas for navigation but also protecting related rights like fishing.

In the dissenting opinion for the United States v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling, which allowed Illinois Central Railroad Company to retain ownership of certain submerged lands in Lake Michigan, was incorrect. The dissenters believed that these lands should be held in trust by the state for public use and not privately owned. They contended that this case involved an important principle of public law - whether or not a state has power to relinquish its control over navigable waters and their beds within its borders - and therefore required careful consideration. They also pointed out inconsistencies between this decision and previous rulings on similar cases where states were prevented from granting private entities exclusive rights over such areas due to their status as common property intended for public use.