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<br />OG2)fJ'1 <br /> <br />rights in state courts. In Arizona v. San Carlos Apache Tribe (668 F.2d 1093) <br /> <br /> <br />and Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. Adsit (668 F.2d 1080), the Ninth Circuit Court <br /> <br />of Appeals reversed federal district courts that had dismissed the water rights <br /> <br />suits in favor of state court proceedings. The Court of Appeals held that both <br /> <br />states had no jurisdiction over Indian water rights since their constitutions and <br /> <br />enabling acts relinquished jurisdiction on Indian lands. The states appealed the <br /> <br />decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the cases. <br /> <br />On July I, 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in the <br /> <br />consolida ted cases. It reversed the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, holding <br /> <br />that, ". . . whatever limitation the Enabling Acts or federal policy may have <br /> <br />originally placed on state-court jurisdiction over Indian water rights, those <br /> <br />limitations were removed by the McCarran Amendment" (103 S. Ct. 3201 at <br />3212). The Court also held that the federal district courts acted properly in <br /> <br />dismissing the actions in favor of the state courts: <br /> <br />In these cases, assuming that the state adjudications <br />are adequate to quantify the rights at issue in the federal <br />suits, the expertise and administrative machinery available to <br />the state courts, the infancy of the federal suits, the general <br />judicial bias against piecemeal litigation, and the convenience <br />to the parties, the District Courts were correct in deferring <br />to the state proceedings (Ibid at 3215). <br /> <br />4. Transferability of Indian Water RiRhts <br /> <br />Winters and other cases recognizing an Indian reserved water right <br /> <br />subsequently led to questions concerning the transferability of that right. Did <br /> <br />water rights reserved to satisfy the purposes of an Indian reservation pass to <br /> <br />tribal members when they were individually allotted portions of reservation <br /> <br />lands? If so, what was their share of the reservation's water right? Could an <br /> <br />-13- <br />