The Navajo Nation reservation stretches across 27,000 square miles in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, Almost a third of the 170,000 people who live there do not have access to clean, reliable drinking water, the tribe says.
But the Navajo Nation says it has not been able to fully represent its own interests in disputes over water. Instead, they say they've been blocked in court by the U.S. federal government, which says it represents tribal interests in water disputes.
"Is the federal government the trustee and the Navajo Nation the beneficiary, such that ordinary trust law principles can be applied?", who specializes in federal Indian law at Stanford Law School. Ordinarily, he explained, a beneficiary can sue a trustee for mismanaging the trust — in this case, water.
"Just as the 1868 treaty didn't impose on the United States a duty to build roads or bridges, or to harvest timber, or to mine coal, the 1868 treaty didn't impose on the United States a duty to construct pipelines, pumps or wells to deliver water," said Frederick Liu, an assistant to the solicitor general, addressing the court.
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