Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in Colorado River case

The Supreme Court has ruled against the Navajo Nation in a case centered on the tribe’s rights to the drying Colorado River.

The tribe claimed it was the federal government’s legal duty to help figure out their future water needs, and aid them in using their rights. But in a 5-4 decision, the justices said an 1868 treaty included no such promises.

In the majority opinion comprised of the court’s conservative wing, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that the agreement between the Navajo Nation and the federal government set aside water for use on the reservation that stretches more than 25,000 square miles across an arid reach of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, but it did not create a duty for the federal government to help the tribe secure that water.

“The 1868 treaty reserved necessary water to accomplish the purpose of the Navajo Reservation,” Kavanaugh wrote. “But the treaty did not require the United States to take affirmative steps to secure water for the Tribe.”