Court Opinion

ID: 5161996
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-02 02:55:54.816041+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:25:39.935130
License: Public Domain

HANSCUM, District Judge,
dissenting.
I join in the dissent. Specifically, I would agree with the dissent’s proposed holding that the implied reservation of water rights attaching to an Indian reservation should assume any use that is appropriate to the Indian homeland as it progresses and develops.
I depart, however, when Justice Thomas proposes to limit water use to the territorial boundaries of the reservation, thus precluding marketability of the water. Justice Thomas would hold that, as a matter of law, marketing water off the reservation never could be appropriate to the progress and development of the Indian homeland.
I disagree. I would go that additional step. I would hold that sale of water off the reservation should be permitted, provided that, as a factual matter, it could be demonstrated that such marketing contributed to the progress and development of the Indian homeland. I can envision a variety of scenarios where such showing could be made successfully. To preclude the opportunity of proving such a nexus unduly would restrict and hamper the prospective development of the Indian homeland in the future.