SCOTUS: No, Mr. Chekov, A Houseboat Is Not A "Wessel" ... Uhh, "Vessel"

This just in: in an 7-2 opinion authored by Justice Breyer, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, No. 11-626, that a houseboat is not a "vessel" under 1 U.S.C. § 3  (a "watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water") because a "reasonable observer, looking to the home's physical characteristics and activities, would not consider it to be designed to any practical degree for carrying people or things on water."

The Court first concluded that the case was not moot, even though the houseboat had been seized, sold at judicial auction, and then destroyed.

Here's something you don't see every day: the opinion even has two photos in an Appendix (of the non-vessel, and a wharf boat in 1918 from the legislative history). See p. 17.

More to follow after I've had a chance to review the opinion and the dissent by Justice Sotomayor (joined by Justice Kennedy), who objected to the "reasonable observer" standard.

The case preview is here. The briefs of the parties are posted here.