Arizona v. Navajo Nation: A Discussion on Indigenous Water Rights

ASU ACS and the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) will host a discussion on the upcoming Supreme Court case Arizona v. Navajo Nation. The Court is considering (1) Whether the opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, allowing the Navajo Nation to proceed with a claim to enjoin the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior to develop a plan to meet the Navajo Nation’s water needs and manage the mainstream of the Colorado River in the Lower Basin so as not to interfere with that plan, infringes upon the Supreme Court’s retained and exclusive jurisdiction over the allocation of water from the LBCR mainstream in Arizona v. California; and (2) whether the Navajo Nation can state a cognizable claim for breach of trust consistent with the Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation based solely on unquantified implied rights to water under the doctrine of Winters v. United States.

ACS and NALSA will be joined by Professor Derrick Beetso, Director of ASU Law's Indian Gaming and Self Governance Programs.

Attendees can RSVP here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScDirUc2mh0OiWFojcPvpYLqmGMWsue1sagXClJxNYRkfLbSw/viewform. Lunch will be provided.