Navajo Nation president, delegates fight for water in Washington

Navajo Nation leadership, officials, and legal counsel outside of the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the oral arguments in Washington D.C. March 20. (Photo/Navajo Nation Council)

Navajo Nation leadership, officials, and legal counsel outside of the U.S. Supreme Court prior to the oral arguments in Washington D.C. March 20. (Photo/Navajo Nation Council)

WASHINGTON D.C. — Leaders of the Navajo Nation attended a U.S. Supreme Court hearing March 20, in which attorneys presented oral arguments in two consolidated cases involving the Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation and State of Arizona v. Navajo Nation.

The Navajo Nation’s claims to water in the state of Arizona are at the heart of the case and the outcome will have significant implications.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, Vice President Richelle Montoya, Speaker Crystalyne Curley, Council Delegates Eugenia Charles-Newton and Brenda Jesus, and Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch attended the hearing to offer their support for the Navajo Nation’s arguments. They were joined by former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald and Navajo Nation Water Rights Commission Chair Joelynn Ashley.

The case before the Supreme Court is concerned with two issues. Firstly, whether the United States has a treaty-based duty to assess the Navajo Nation’s water needs and develop a plan to meet them, and secondly, whether a lower federal court order requiring the United States to assess the Nation’s water needs and develop a plan to meet them would conflict with the Court’s decree in Arizona v. California, a ruling that limited the circumstances in which the federal government could divert water from the Lower Colorado River.

Part of the Navajo Nation’s argument is based on the fact that the United States promised to assist the Navajo people in meeting their water needs when it entered into two treaties with Navajo leaders. Through these treaties, the United States undertook a duty of trust to the Navajo Nation.

According to a statement issued by the Navajo Nation Department of Justice, the Supreme Court recognized in the 1908 case of Winters v. United States that a permanent home for tribal nations requires water. However, the United States has failed to live up to its obligation to make the lands of the Navajo people productive and to allow the Navajo people to thrive, as their non-Native neighbors in Arizona have done.

The Navajo Nation seeks a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court, which will confirm that the Navajo Nation has a viable claim against the federal government and that the United States has an enforceable duty to fulfill its treaty promises, ensuring that the Navajo Nation has access to the water it needs to support a flourishing permanent homeland.

“This case goes beyond the fiduciary duty of the federal government. The outcome of this hearing may determine the livelihood of our Navajo people now, and for all future generations. The right to water centers on our right to a permanent homeland through our treaties and the prayers of our ancestors since time immemorial. Our leaders long ago fought for our right to our homeland and that includes the right to water, the right to life,” stated Speaker Curley.

President Nygren said the case offers the United States an opportunity to live up to its trust responsibility. The case will have significant implications for the Navajo Nation’s claims to water in the state of Arizona, and its outcome will be closely watched.

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