WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court decided against the Navajo Nation in a dispute over water from the drought-stricken Colorado River on Thursday.
States that draw water from the river – Arizona, Nevada and Colorado – and water districts in California also implicated in the case had asked the court to rule for them, which the judges did in a 5-4 verdict. Colorado had argued that a pro-Navajo Nation party would undermine existing agreements and disrupt management of the river.
The Biden administration had said that if the court ruled in favor of the Navajo Nation, the federal government would face lawsuits from many other tribes.
Navajo Nation attorneys had described the tribe’s request as modest were just looking an assessment of the tribe’s water needs and a plan to meet them.
The facts date back to treaties signed by the tribe and the federal government in 1849 and 1868. The second treaty established the reservation as the tribe’s “permanent home” — a promise that the Navajo Nation says includes an adequate water supply. In 2003, the tribe sued the federal government for failing to honor or protect the Navajo Nation’s water rights on the lower part of the Colorado River.
A federal court initially dismissed the lawsuit; An appeals court allowed the continuation.
While arguments in the case In March, Judge Samuel Alito pointed out that the Navajo Nation’s original reservation was hundreds of miles from the stretch of the Colorado River from which it now seeks water.
Vyto Starinskas via Associated Press
Today, the Colorado River flows along what is now the northwestern boundary of the tribe’s reservation, which extends into New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona. Two of the river’s tributaries, the San Juan River and the Little Colorado River, also run along and through the reserve. Still, a third of the approximately 175,000 people who live in the reserve, the country’s largest, have no running water in their homes.
The government argued that it helped the tribe secure water from Colorado River tributaries and provided money for infrastructure, including pipelines, pumping stations and water treatment plants. But it said there was no law or contract that required the government to assess and meet the tribe’s overall water needs. States involved in the case argued that the Navajo Nation tried to circumvent a Supreme Court executive order that divided the water in the lower Colorado River basin.
