us-supreme-court water
Water rights - Navajo Nation v. United States
<p>I am trying to understand the context behind the recent <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1484_aplc.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SCOTUS decision</a> against the Navajo Nation.</p>
<p>It seems like the US, as a trustee, has an equitable duty to perform a Water Rights Accounting, and to seek a court's approval of such an accounting, to which the Navajo Nation could file exceptions.</p>
<p>Does anyone know a Water Rights Accounting has happened in for the Navajo Reservation?</p>
<p>Is the supreme court saying that the duty to account is not an affirmative duty?</p>
<p>Updated:</p>
<p>After researching the 1868 Navajo treaty, it seems the agreement was made under threat of extreme military force by the US, and agreed to by natives who mostly lacked the capacity to sign their names.  Ouch!</p>
<p>According to Wikipedia, the Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 contained an amendment ending tribal recognition and the treaty system.   All Indians were made wards of the state; thus the U.S. government no longer needed tribal consent in dealing with the tribes.</p>
<p>In other words, to hell with the rule of law, the U.S. Congress we can do whatever they want. in &quot;Indian Country&quot;.</p>

<h2>The US role as trustee is limited by the treaty</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>The Federal Government owes judicially enforceable duties to a tribe “only to the extent it expressly accepts those responsibilities.”</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>To be sure, this Court’s precedents have stated that the United
States maintains a general trust relationship with Indian tribes, including the Navajos. But unless Congress has created a conventional trust relationship with a tribe as to a particular trust asset, this Court will not “apply common-law trust principles” to infer duties not found in the text of a treaty, statute, or regulation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The 1868 treaty is silent on water rights so the US Government has no duty to do anything.</p>
