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2 Understanding this lawsuit requires at least three pieces of context the Court’s opinion neglects. It requires some understanding of the history that led to the Treaty of 1868 establishing the Navajo Reservation. It requires some insight into the discussions that surrounded that Treaty. Finally, it requires an appreciation of the many steps the Navajo took to avoid this litigation.

For centuries, the Navajo inhabited a stretch of land in “present-day northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and the San Juan drainage beyond.” J. Kessell, General Sherman and the Navajo Treaty of 1868: A Basic and Expedient Misunderstanding, 12 W. Hist. Q. 251, 253 (1981) (Kessell). This ancestral home was framed by “four mountains and four rivers” the Tribe considered sacred. Treaty Between the United States of America and the Navajo Tribe of Indians, With a Record of the Discussions That Led to Its Signing 2 (1968) (Treaty Record); see also E. Rosser, Ahistorical Indians and Reservation Resources, 40 Env. L. 437, 445 (2010). There, tribal members “planted their subsistence crops,” “hunted and gathered,” and “r[an] their livestock” over the plains. Kessell 253.

In the 1860s, that way of life changed forever. In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War—and following a period of rapid westward expansion—the United States found itself embroiled in a series of bitter conflicts with the Navajo. P. Iverson, Diné: A History of the Navajos 37–48 (2002) (Iverson). Eventually, the United States tasked James Henry Carleton with resolving them. Id., at 47–48. “Determined to bring an end to Native resistance in the territory,” he elected for a program of “removal, isolation, and incarceration.” Id., at 48. He hoped that time on a reservation would teach the Navajo “ ‘the art of peace,’ ” and that, while confined, they might “ ‘acquire new habits, new values, new