Colorado’s top leaders on Wednesday were not short on adjectives to describe Nebraska’s petition asking the country’s highest court to weigh in on a long-simmering water dispute between the states.

Attorney General Phil Weiser called the Cornhusker State’s filing over the South Platte River Compact “baseless” during a news conference announcing Colorado’s legal response. The canal Nebraska wants to build here, he said, is an “unserious boondoggle.” Gov. Jared Polis called the neighboring state’s filing premature, unfounded and a “meritless escalation.”

Their remarks came the same day that Weiser filed Colorado’s response to Nebraska’s request for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on its plans to build a canal in Colorado. The canal would divert more water from the South Platte River to

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