Under a historic water crisis in the desert southwest, the Navajo Nation asked for a court order requiring the federal government to determine the Nation’s water needs and to devise a plan to meet those needs. In a 5-4 decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court held that the United States owes no “affirmative duty” to the Navajo Nation to secure water, reversing a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The majority ruled that the 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo, known to the Nation as the Old Paper, or Naal Tsoos Sani, established no federal obligation...
