The Navajo Nation has won a victory in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case in which a utility company sought to condemn land partially owned by the nation.
On Friday, the federal court upheld a district court’s ruling that Public Service Company of New Mexico could not condemn land previously allotted to individual tribal members but in which the Nation now has a fractional interest. The company had sought to renew a right-of-way for an electric transmission line. When fewer than half of certain landowners consented, the company sought condemnation. But the courts said only Congress can condemn land even partially owned by tribes. In a statement, Navajo Attorney General Ethel Branch called the ruling “a triumph.”
