[1]: 38 [2]: 364  The Reservation land provided by the U.S. Government and established to be a "permanent home" saw itself to be very inhospitable to the native populace whose agricultural possibilities were heavily limited by the land's poor soil quality, resulting in a sharp decline in the total Navajo population of the new residents.

[3][4] To aid in both the assimilation of the native peoples and to assist in the ability of the Navajo to adapt to their new home, the Treaty of Bosque Redondo was provided which, in exchange for the renouncement of all claims outside the reservation and federal education of native children, saw federal assistance and aid to allow for agricultural cultivation alongside monetary compensation for labor.

[9] Justice Clarence Thomas, joining the majority opinion in full, offered a separate concurrence in which he suggested revisiting prior cases recognizing the canons of construction of Indian treaties and stating that prior court cases had "blurred the lines between the political branches’ general moral obligations to Indians".

The opinion highlighted the historical context of the forced relocation of the Navajo people alongside the cannons of construction stating how the 1868 treaty would ultimately allow for adequate resources for them to build a homeland.

[13] To highlight this perceived lack of Governmental discretion, Gorsuch referred to U.S. refusal to fulfill the Treaty's promises as having been around since 'Elvis was still making his rounds on The Ed Sullivan Show' while offering suggestions on how the Navajo Nation might be able to litigate future treaty rights over waters of the Colorado River.