US Supreme Court Rules Against Navajo Nation in Water Rights Case

From the article:

The largest Native American reservation in the United States has lost a key legal battle with the Biden administration over its access to a critical waterway.

The Navajo Nation had argued that the federal government is legally obligated to address the tribe’s water needs from the drought-stricken Colorado River, which serves about 40 million people in the arid Southwest US.

According to the tribe, an 1868 treaty promised them sufficient land and water to establish a “permanent home” after being confined to a reservation. Nowadays, however, many Navajo residents survive on just a fraction of the water used by the average American citizen, and about one-third of the 175,000 reservation residents lack access to running water.

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) concluded that the treaty “does not require the United States to take those affirmative steps,” as conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained in a statement...

The vote comes after a federal appeals court initially sided with the Navajo, a ruling that four states – along with major water users in California and Arizona – had prompted the Supreme Court to review. Last week’s vote in the Arizona v. Navajo Nation case effectively reverses that ruling.