The tribe counters that it is not seeking a decision on those rights specifically. In the current Supreme Court case, the federal government says the tribe is seeking to reopen already decided cases that determine how water in the Lower Colorado River is allocated. A previous attempt to settle Navajo claims to the Lower Colorado River failed about a decade ago.
The tribe can also draw some water from the Upper Colorado River basin. With the help of the federal government, the tribe previously settled claims to water from the San Juan River, another Colorado River tributary that runs through Navajo territory in the Four Corners region, where the borders of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet. Navajo access to the Little Colorado River is still being adjudicated in state court. During the course of that case, the federal government, on behalf of Navajo Nation, asserted rights to tributaries of the Colorado River, including the Little Colorado River, which runs across the southwestern part of the reservation, but not the main channel of the Lower Colorado River.
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