Blog: Tribal rights, water rights, states’ rights and the Colorado River: What’s at stake in the SCOTUS case, Arizona v. Navajo Nation
The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Arizona v. Navajo Nation, No. 21-1484, a case consolidated with a separate petition for certiorari filed by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), No. 21-51. The consolidated cases involve a water rights case initially brought by the Navajo Nation against DOI. The states of Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, along with six major municipal and agricultural water providers with adjudicated rights to the Colorado River in the Lower Basin, intervened in the case. Those states and public water providers (Intervenors) filed the petition for certiorari seeking review of the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.