Supreme Court rules for Texas in Rio Grande River lawsuit

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(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court has handed Texas a win in a lawsuit first brought by Gov. Greg Abbott when he was attorney general. 

Abbott was the longest serving attorney general in state history, serving from 2002 to 2015. The Republican official is currently the longest serving governor, running for reelection to his fourth term.

In 2013, Abbott sued New Mexico and Colorado, alleging New Mexico was unfairly syphoning water from the Rio Grande River before it reached Texas. New Mexico counterclaimed, alleging Texas violated The Rio Grande Compact, which all three states entered into in 1938.

Congress approved the compact established to equitably apportion the river water that flows through all three states. The Texas Legislature also ratified the agreement, which became part of the Texas Water Code.

The river is a vital water source for Texas, New Mexico and Colorado and four Mexican states, flowing through arid, semi-arid and desert terrain. Due to the massive agricultural reliance on water from the river, only 20% of the river’s water is estimated to reach the Gulf of America.

The Rio Grande River flows along the southern boundaries of 13 Texas border counties.

At the center of the dispute is the region between Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and Hudspeth County, Texas. The dam confines the Elephant Butte Reservoir, which New Mexicans use primarily for agriculture, as well as recreation and hydroelectricity. Hudspeth County is the second-most west located Texas county, located directly east of El Paso County, which borders New Mexico.

After nearly a decade of legal battles, the Rio Grande Compact Commission, a body of commissioners from each state, reached an agreement in a special meeting held in November 2022 during the Biden administration. Each state’s commissioner signed a resolution stating they’d considered a consent decree in a closed executive session and found it “to be consistent with the Compact and fair to all Compacting states.”

However, the Biden administration intervened and objected to the terms of the agreement. As a result, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado requested a special master, and ultimately the Supreme Court, to approve their agreement over the Biden administration’s objection.

Texas continued to fight. Fast forward to the Trump administration, and the states came to an agreement in August 2025. A special master appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court submitted an official report and recommendation to the Supreme Court earlier this year recommending that the justices approve the final decree agreed to by the states. The Supreme Court agreed and issued a consent decree supporting the compact. 

The decree states that pursuant to a unanimous resolution of the compact adopted by the commission in 1948, New Mexico is obligated to deliver Rio Grande River water as measured at Elephant Butte Reservoir in amounts that are based on flows measured according to the compact. The division of water is based on the percentage of the total authorized irrigable acreage of the Rio Grande Project situated in each state at the time of the compact, approximately 57% in New Mexico and 43% in Texas. 

The agreement requires New Mexico to control groundwater pumping in the state that draws water the river to ensure that Texas receives its proper allocation of water. 

“The approval of this agreement is a historic win for the people of Texas, our economy, and our State’s water rights,” now outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton said. “This agreement helps Texas farmers and families receive the water they depend on every single day from the Rio Grande.”  

The nearly 1,900-mile-long Rio Grande River originates in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado at 12,000 feet above sea level. It flows south through New Mexico into El Paso, Texas, where it becomes the international boundary between Texas and Mexico. After the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican American war, the river became the international border. It also became “ground zero” during several presidential administrations for illegal crossings, drug and human smuggling, with Texas inundated with the majority of illegal crossings and border crimes.

In Texas, the river stretches from western most part of the state in El Paso, traveling southeast along Texas’ 1,254-mile-border with Mexico, ending in the Gulf of America.