Orff

This appeal poses the issue of whether sovereign immunity bars individual landowners and water users (collectively, “the farmers”) of the Westlands Water District (“Westlands”) from suing the United States for allegedly having violated a contract the United States entered into with Westlands for the delivery of water. The district court originally concluded that sovereign immunity had been waived and proceeded to rule on the merits of the farmers’ claims. The court then changed its mind on reconsideration, ruling that sovereign immunity barred the farmers’ claims. We affirm that ruling. We agree with the district court that sovereign immunity deprived it of jurisdiction to hear the farmers’ claims. Because the district court lacked jurisdiction to entertain those claims, we vacate the district court’s rulings on the merits of those claims.

I. BACKGROUND

This is another in a long line of cases involving the Central Valley Project (the “CVP”), the nation’s largest federal water management project. Westlands receives water from the San Luis Unit of the CVP pursuant to a 1963 contract (the “1963 contract”) with the United States. 1 The validity and enforceability of the 1963…