Supreme Court rules against Navajo Nation in water supply case
(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the Navajo Nation, dismissing a lawsuit arguing that the federal government has the legal duty under treaties signed in the 1800s to develop a plan to provide the tribe with an adequate water supply.
Posted — UpdatedThe ruling was 5-4 against the Navajos.
The suit pitted the Navajo Nation against the US government as well as a handful of western states that are concerned about water allocation.
A lawyer for the Navajo Nation told the Supreme Court that the Navajos “made clear” that they understood the “promise of a permanent homeland” in the 1800s to include “adequate water for agriculture and raising livestock.”
He said that currently more than 30% of households on the reservation lack running water altogether.
“Hauled from miles away, water can cost up to twenty times more than it does in neighborhood off-reservation communities,” he said.
The US government stressed at oral arguments that the tribe did not have the legal right to make the claim because the treaties at issue did not create a pathway for the tribe to sue the government over water.
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