United States v. White Mountain Apache Tribe, the White Mountain Apache Tribal Court, Etc.

We decide today two cases in the continuing dispute over Indian rights to water from the Salt River watershed in Arizona. The defendant White Mountain Apache Tribe inhabits the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The headwaters of the Salt River lie within the Reservation. Currently pending before the Superior Court for Maricopa County, Arizona, is the consolidated water rights determination proceeding entitled In re the General Adjudication of All Rights to Use Water in the Gila River System and Source, W-l through W-4 (“W-l”). That litigation encompasses several river systems, including the Salt. The United States is a party to W-l, in part because of its role as trustee for the Tribe and holder of legal title to any water rights to which the Tribe is beneficially entitled.

As with several earlier lawsuits, this case involves, ultimately, a refusal of the Tribe to acknowledge the state court’s jurisdiction to determine these water rights, at least in the first instance. The Tribe initially sought an injunction in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to prevent the federal government from filing a claim on the Tribe’s behalf in W-l. When that attempt…