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              Con gressionaI
          AResearch Servic






Reserved but Not Secured: Supreme

Court Sinks Navajo Nation's Attempt to

Compel Federal Action on Tribal Water Rights



July  5, 2023

On June 22, 2023, the Supreme Court issued its decision in two consolidated cases (hereinafter Navajo
Nation) involving the Navajo Nation's rights to water on the Navajo Reservation, which generally lie
within the Colorado River basin. In Navajo Nation, the Court reaffirmed that the United States had
reserved water rights on the Navajo Nation's behalf pursuant to a treaty establishing the Navajo
reservation as a permanent home, but rejected the implication that the United States could be required
to take affirmative steps as trustee to assess or secure those rights.
The Supreme Court's decision arose in the contexts of the United States' trust responsibility toward
federally recognized Indian Tribes and of tribal water rights, stemming from two landmark Supreme
Court cases: Winters v. United States and Arizona v California. This Sidebar examines that legal
background before summarizing the Navajo Nation opinions and discussing considerations for Congress.

The   United   States' Trust  Responsibility Toward Tribes

The Supreme Court has long recognized the undisputed existence of a general trust relationship between
the United States and the Indian people. The Court has described the trust relationship as a humane and
self-imposed policy under which the United States charges itself with moral obligations of the highest
responsibility and trust, such that its conduct should be judged by the most exacting fiduciary
standards.
The exact contours of the trust relationship, however, and the extent to which the United States may have
a common-law fiduciary duty to act for Tribes' benefit, may vary depending on courts' interpretation of
the treaties, statutes, and regulations involved.

Tribal Reserved  Water  Rights: Winters v. United States
Among  the facets of trust relationship-and one expressly reaffirmed by the Court in Navajo Nation-is
the Winters doctrine, derived from the 1908 Supreme Court opinion in Winters v. United States. The

                                                             Congressional Research Service
                                                               https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                 LSB11001

CRS Legal Sidebar
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

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