By Matt Ford, Photo: Spencer Platt, The Soapbox, March 9, 2023
The Supreme Court is extremely strict about what can be brought into its chambers during oral arguments. In addition to obvious items like guns and knives, visitors must leave just about every other personal item outside when they enter. Cameras, cell phones, laptops, and the like are left outside—even if you’re a reporter. No snacks or drinks can be brought in. Not even water.
On March 20, however, the entire Colorado River will be looming over the justices when they hear oral arguments in Arizona v. Navajo Nation. The case, which dwells at the intersection of Native treaty rights and water rights, will mark the court’s latest foray into the byzantine rules and regulations that govern limited supplies of water in one of the driest parts of the country. For the Navajo Nation, the court’s decision on its nineteenth-century treaty rights could have serious consequences for its future.
One half of the case’s origins involves the treaty rights promised to the Navajo Nation when it agreed to reside on the reservation in the late nineteenth century. In 1848, the federal government signed its first treaty with the Navajo people where it promised to delineate a permanent reservation for them within their historical homelands and legislate to secure their “permanent prosperity and happiness.” That, tragically, did not come to pass.
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