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In 2022, the Court of Appeals again remanded the case back to the District Court with instructions to "fully consider the [breach of trust] claim on its merits...." Navajo Nation v. USDOI, 26 F.4th 794 (9th Cir. 2022). The Navajo Nation's breach of trust claim was primarily based upon its 1868 Treaty with the United States and the common law reserved water rights doctrine established by the Supreme Court in Winters, 207 U.S. at 576-57. On June 22, 2023, the high court issued a 5-4 ruling in the consolidated cases of Arizona v. Navajo Nation and Navajo Nation v. U.S. Department of the Interior. [Extracted from the article]

DOI and the Intervenors argued that there is no such trust duty and that the Navajo Nation's complaint seeks rights to the Lower Colorado River, which is subject to the retained and exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court pursuant to its 2006 Final Consolidated Decree. 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. [Extracted from the article]