The SCOTUS overturned a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning a district court dismissal of a suit by Navajo Nation to compel the US Dept of Interior to secure the reservation’s water rights.
This is a case that started in 2003 when Navajo Nation sued multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, for violating the National Environmental Policy Act and trust duties for not considering the tribe’s water rights to the Colorado River.
The Biden Administration argued against Navajo Nation, arguing a decision in their favor would encourage claims from other tribes (as if that wasn’t the correct path forward to repair centuries of theft of water from the tribes?).
The decision was 5-4 and (fairly telling in itself) was written by that legal beer bong, B. Kavanaugh. The federal government petition for writ was Department of the Interior, et al., v. Navajo Nation, et al.
This decision appears to leave Navajo Nation without recourse to protest decisions being made for the allocation of the Colorado River waters in the existing drought and the going forward reallocation discussions ongoing at this time for the Colorado River Compact.
The decision does not appear to be published at this time — the SCOTUS website does not show the decision at this time.