The Adobe Whitewater Oral Argument is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1 at 9:00 am. There is no seating in the Supreme Court courtroom; however, the Oral Argument will also be livestreamed for the public through the Supreme Court’s website at www.nmcourts.gov. On the left under NM Courts, click on Supreme Court. You will see a link saying “Click Here for Livestream of Supreme Court Oral Arguments.”
The New Mexico Supreme Court has turned its attention to the public stream access litigation brought by Petitioners the Adobe Whitewater Club (AWC) of New Mexico, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and the New Mexico Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. The organizations initially brought the case to the state’s highest court in March 2020 to petition the New Mexico Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional rights of the people to access our public waters, even where they cross private lands. We have been working closely with AWC since the issue arose in the summer of 2019 and you can read more about the evolution of this case here.
It has been almost two years since the issue was brought to the NM Supreme Court to make a decision on the constitutionality of blocking the public out of non-navigable waterways. Oral arguments will take place tomorrow morning at 9am Mountain Time. This will be the first hearing on the case after petitioners (AWC et. al.) submitted a Brief in Chief, followed by responses from both respondents (NM Game Commission), and intervenors (a group of landowners). Finally, the pro-bono lawyers representing the AWC and crew had a chance to reply to both respondents and intervenors in a reply brief.
The Brief in Chief set outs the intention of this case plainly:
The Petition asks the Court to strike down the Rule and undo the “nonnavigable public water” certifications already issued under the Rule by the [State Game Commission]. In doing so, the Petition calls upon the Court to make explicit the only construction of Article 16, Section 2 that is consistent with Red River and the longstanding legal, historical, and cultural traditions of river use in New Mexico—that the public’s right to recreate on public waters necessarily includes the incidental right to make reasonable use of riverbeds and banks.
A decision from the NMSC is still unknown but we will update the river community as soon as we hear one.