Department of the Interior v. Navajo Nation

Consolidated with:

Arizona v. Navajo Nation

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
22-51	9th Cir.	Mar 20, 2023	TBD	TBD	TBD	OT 2022

Issue: Whether the federal government owes the Navajo Nation an affirmative, judicially enforceable fiduciary duty to assess and address the Navajo Nation"s need for water from particular sources, in the absence of any substantive source of law that expressly establishes such a duty.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Court schedules final two argument sessions of 2022-23 term (Amy Howe, January 31, 2023)
Justices grant review in cases on patents, trademarks, and water rights for Native Americans (Amy Howe, November 4, 2022)
Intellectual property and Navajo water rights (John Elwood, November 2, 2022)
Water and electric quarrels test the limits of tribal power (Kalvis Golde, August 5, 2022)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
05/06/2022	Application (21A704) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from May 18, 2022 to June 17, 2022, submitted to Justice Kagan.
05/10/2022	Application (21A704) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until June 17, 2022.
06/07/2022	Application (21A704) to extend further the time from June 17, 2022 to July 15, 2022, submitted to Justice Kagan.
06/08/2022	Application (21A704) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until July 15, 2022.
07/15/2022	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 18, 2022)
07/21/2022	Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 18, 2022 to September 23, 2022, submitted to The Clerk.
07/22/2022	Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 23, 2022, for all respondents.
09/23/2022	Brief of respondent Navajo Nation in opposition filed.
09/23/2022	Brief in support of petition from respondent Arizona, et al. filed.
10/12/2022	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/28/2022.
10/13/2022	Reply of petitioners Department of the Interior, et al. filed. (Distributed)
10/31/2022	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/4/2022.
11/04/2022	Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 21-1484 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument.
11/04/2022	Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 21-1484. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 21-1484. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
01/31/2023	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, March 20, 2023. VIDED.
02/13/2023	CIRCULATED
03/20/2023	Argued. For federal parties: Frederick Liu, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For state parties: Rita P. Maguire, Phoenix, Ariz. For Navajo Nation: Shay Dvoretzky, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
06/22/2023	Judgment REVERSED. Kavanaugh, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Alito, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion. Gorsuch, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, JJ., joined. VIDED.
07/24/2023	Judgment issued.