Question

Consider the lines in the first paragraph: "Later decisions, citing Winters, established that courts can find federal rights to reserve water... when establishing the reservation."
If the criteria discussed in these lines were the only criteria for establishing a reservation's water rights, which of the following would be true?

• A. The water rights of the inhabitants of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation Would not take precedence over those of other citizens.
• B. Reservations established before 1848 would be judged to have no water rights.
• C. There would be no legal basis for the water rights of the Rio Grande pueblos.
• D. Reservations other than American Indian reservations could not be created with reserved water rights.
• E. Treaties establishing reservations would have to mention water rights explicitly in order to reserve water for a particular purpose.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

There would be no legal basis for the water rights of the Rio Grande pueblos.

"Some American Indian tribes have also established water rights through the courts based on their traditional diversion and use of certain waters prior to the United States' acquisition of sovereignty." - this sentence, written just after the given criteria puts emphasis on an exception to the criteria and implies that these were not the only criteria for establishing a reservation's water rights. If they had been the only criteria then option C would hold true. Thus, option C best befits the context.