Supreme Court appears divided on Navajo water rights lawsuit – By Michael Macagnone (Roll Call) / Mar 20 2023
Congress has had decades to address the tribe’s water needs and done nothing, a lawyer for the tribe tells the justices
The Supreme Court appeared closely divided Monday over the Navajo Nation’s effort to keep alive a lawsuit seeking more water for a reservation in Arizona, as the tribe told the justices that the federal government had an obligation to provide access to water sources.
The Navajo Nation contends that an 1868 treaty promised both land and water sufficient for the Navajos to return to a permanent home in their ancestral territory. That wades into the contentious history of divvying up the dwindling flow of the Colorado River among the states in that river’s basin.
Shay Dvoretzky, an attorney for the tribe, told the justices Monday that the Navajo should be able to pursue a lawsuit to make the U.S. government live up to the treaty that Congress approved more than 150 years ago.
“The right to water would be meaningless if the government as trustee doesn’t also have an affirmative duty as the trustee to ensure that the water is available to the beneficiary of the trust,” Dvoretzky said.
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