Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1484_aplc.pdf
Page Number: 38

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

17 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

defendant is a fiduciary who has been entrusted with prop-
erty of some kind belonging to the plaintiff,” even if the de-
fendant is not “express[ly]” named a “trustee.”  J. Eichen-
grun, Remedying the Remedy of Accounting,  60 Ind. L. J. 
463,  468–469,  and  n. 18  (1985)  (noting  cases);  see  also  A.
Newman, G. Bogert, & G. Bogert, Law of Trusts and Trus-
tees §967, p. 201 (3d ed. 2010) (“fiduciary relationship [is]
sufficient to support an action for an accounting” whenever
the fiduciary exercises “discretion over trust” assets). 

B 

With these principles in mind, return to the Navajo’s case 
and start with the most basic terms of the parties’ agree-
ment.  In signing the Treaty of 1868, the Navajo agreed to
“relinquish  all  right  to  occupy  any  territory  outside  their 
reservation.”  Art. IX, 15 Stat. 670.  In exchange, the Navajo
were entitled to “make the reservation . . . their permanent 
home.”  Art.  XIII,  id.,  at  671.  Even  standing  alone,  that
language  creates  enforceable  water  rights  under  Winters. 
As both parties surely would have recognized, no people can 
make a permanent home without the ability to draw on ad-
equate water.  Otherwise, the Tribe’s land would be “prac-
tically valueless,” “defeat[ing] the declared purpose” of the 
Treaty.  Winters, 207 U. S., at 576–577. 

Other clues make the point even more obvious.  Various 
features of the Treaty were expressly keyed to an assump-
tion  about  the  availability  of  water.    The  United  States 
agreed to build certain structures “within said reservation,
where . . . water may be convenient.”  Art. III, 15 Stat. 668. 
Under the Treaty’s terms, too, individual Navajo were enti-
tled to select tracts of land within the reservation to “com-
mence  farming”  and  for  “purposes  of  cultivation.”  Art. V, 
ibid.  If an individual could show that he “intend[ed] in good 
faith  to  commence  cultivating  the  soil  for  a  living,”  the 
Treaty entitled him to “receive seeds and agricultural im-
plements.”  Art. VII,  id.,  at  669.  Similarly,  the  Treaty