For the second time this year, the U.S. Supreme Court has abruptly discharged a lawyer in private practice who has been serving as a special master, and appointed a senior federal judge to step in and preside over a water dispute between states.

The court on Thursday issued an order stating that Portland, Maine, lawyer Ralph Lancaster Jr., who has been special master in Florida v. Georgia since November 2014, is “hereby discharged with the thanks of the court.”