ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20051
No(s). 20-4098 (10th Cir. Apr 27, 2022)

The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a long-running water dispute between an Indian tribe and a private landowner in Utah. The tribe sued the landowner in tribal court, arguing the landowner had been diverting the tribe's water for years. The tribal court held it had subject matter jurisdiction because the tribe had sovereign authority to manage the use of its territory and natural resources by tribe members and nonmembers, and found that the landowner misappropriated tribal water to irrigate his property. The tribe then petitioned a district court to recognize and enforce the tribal court's judgment, but the court held the judgment was unenforceable because the tribal court lacked jurisdiction, and dismissed the suit. The appellate court found that the dispute was a matter of the tribe's external relations, not tribal self-government, and that tribal sovereignty traditionally did not extend to external relations with non-Indians. It affirmed dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.