The Nation had argued that the 1868 treaty did more than establish bare property rights. The Old Paper, it said, established an ongoing relationship between the tribe and the United States, often referred to as the general trust relationship or the duty of protection, that placed obligations on the federal government to act to fulfill the purposes of the treaty. It also argued that Indian land cession treaties necessarily granted a reservation the right to enough water to maintain its land. The Nation relied on the canons of construing Indian treaties, which requires the judiciary to interpret treaty language as tribal treaty negotiators would have understood it. The majority instead characterized the Nation’s argument as a demand to “rewrite and update this 155-year-old treaty.”I've lived many years close to tribal reservations in upstate New York and North Idaho, so this strikes me as yet another in a long line of abuses of the natives in North America. How can we grant them reservations but not provide enough water?
I'm yet again reminded of what happened to this maiden...
