WASHINGTON — With California and the Southwest facing a historic drought, the Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a 9th Circuit Court decision that held the Navajo Nation has a right to take more water from the Colorado River.
The appeals court had pointed to the 1868 treaty that gave the Navajos a "permanent home" on their reservation, and it ruled the treaty "necessarily implied rights" to an adequate amount of water to live and farm.
"It is clear that the reservation cannot exist as a viable homeland for the Nation without an adequate water supply," wrote Judge Ronald Gould, yet "many homes on the reservation lack running water."
