New Mexico
Mediation starts in Rio Grande legal fight among New Mexico, Texas and Colorado • Source New Mexico
A new chapter in the decade-long lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court over Rio Grande water is set to begin.
After a close, 5-4 ruling from the Supreme Court dashed a proposed deal to end the litigation, the federal government and states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas have been ordered back to mediation, which begins Tuesday in Washington D.C.
In addition to the parties, there will be attorneys for groups including farming interests, the cities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces, water utilities and irrigation districts, joining the talks.
In 2013, Texas sued New Mexico, alleging that groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico diverted water out of the Rio Grande owed to Texas violating the 86-year old agreement called the Rio Grande Compact. Signed in 1938, the compact divided use of the Rio Grande between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.
Only the Supreme Court has the power to rule on disputes between states.
A dispute over baselines for groundwater
One of the core disagreements between the federal government and the three states is determining how much groundwater pumping needs to be cut along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico. In the arid region, water is crucial for growing crops like chile and pecans, and both groundwater and water from the Rio Grande are used for irrigation.
In the rejected settlement agreement, the states requested a baseline adjusted to more groundwater pumping and drought conditions determined by an equation called the “D2 curve.”
The D2 curve was used as part of a 2008 settlement ending a fight between the irrigation districts and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over drought concerns.
Alternately, the federal government has previously asked for the states to adopt restrictions from when the compact was first signed.
The states will continue to argue for the D2 curve baseline, said James Grayson, the chief deputy for the New Mexico Department of Justice.
“In 1938, there was essentially no groundwater being used, and so the United States is essentially advocating to go back to that time and that way of using only surface water,” Grayson said.
The City of Las Cruces and the New Mexico Attorney General have urged federal officials in recent months to make a deal with the states before the start of Donald Trump’s presidency in January and compromise on its position to drastically limit groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation asks feds to wrap up Rio Grande lawsuit
In a Nov. 14 letter, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, appealed to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Halaand to drop the objections.
“Time is running out,” Torrez wrote. “And I am pleading with you to resolve this issue for the benefit of all parties, but especially for the people of southern New Mexico, rather than leaving the matter to become a political bargaining chip for the next administration.”
In an October letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the City of Las Cruces stated that cutting pumping to a 1938 level would reduce the city’s groundwater use by 93%.
This action “would cripple farmers, families and communities in southern New Mexico,” and would require the state’s second-largest city to find a new source of water, requiring a $1 billion investment and take about 15 years to put into place.
In 2023 testimony before lawmakers, state officials said New Mexico would need to cut groundwater use in southern New Mexico by at least 17,000 acre-feet to meet the deal set by the D2 curve baseline, by reducing pecan and chile fields. If the 1938 standard was required, cuts would need to be in the hundreds of thousands of acre-feet.
How we got here
The contours of the dispute have changed since the case was first brought in 2013. Drought conditions in the early 2000s sparked a protracted series of water lawsuits in lower courts between the federal government, states, cities and counties and irrigation districts along the Rio Grande.
In 2019, the high court unanimously allowed the U.S. federal government to intervene as a party in the case, arguing that a series of federal dams, irrigation canals and ditches were threatened by New Mexico’s groundwater pumping. That federal infrastructure is used to deliver Rio Grande water to Mexico under a 1906 treaty and also meets agreements with two regional irrigation districts.
While the federal government initially sided with Texas in the lawsuit, a series of compromises eventually put the states in one camp and the federal government (and the regional irrigation districts) in another.
Colorado, New Mexico and Texas came to an eleventh-hour settlement in 2022, but the federal government objected and said that the deal couldn’t be made without their agreement.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the federal government’s objections, rejecting the proposed deal.
Earlier this year, justices appointed a new special master, who oversees the progress of the case.
After an October hearing, Judge D. Brooks Smith ordered the parties into mediation, which starts Tuesday and will end Thursday, but could continue to be extended. If mediation talks break down entirely, the parties will resume going to trial.
New Mexico
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Boys Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedules – March 7, 2026
The 2026 New Mexico high school boys basketball state championships begin on Saturday, March 7, with 40 games in the first round of action.
High School on SI has brackets for every classification in the New Mexico high school basketball state brackets. The championship games begin on March 14 at the University of New Mexico – The Pit.
New Mexico (NMAA) High School Basketball State Championship Brackets, Schedule – March 7
No. 1 Volcano Vista vs. No. 16 Santa Fe – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Las Cruces vs. No. 9 Albuquerque – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 5 Hobbs vs. No. 12 Organ Mountain – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 La Cueva vs. No. 13 Atrisco Heritage Academy – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 3 Rio Rancho vs. No. 14 Mayfield – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Sandia vs. No. 11 Farmington – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Centennial vs. No. 10 Carlsbad – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Cleveland vs. No. 15 Alamogordo – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 1 Highland vs. No. 16 Grants – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 8 Belen vs. No. 9 Portales – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Taos vs. No. 12 St. Pius X – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 4 Del Norte vs. No. 13 Valencia – 03/07, 7:00 PM MT
No. 3 Hope Christian vs. No. 14 Pojoaque Valley – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 6 Albuquerque Academy vs. No. 11 Goddard – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Gallup vs. No. 10 Silver – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Artesia vs. No. 15 Bloomfield – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 St. Michael’s vs. No. 16 Wingate – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tohatchi vs. No. 9 New Mexico Military Institute – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 5 Santa Fe Indian vs. No. 12 Sandia Prep – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Navajo Prep vs. No. 13 Hot Springs – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cobre vs. No. 14 Ruidoso – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 6 Bosque vs. No. 11 Cottonwood Classical Prep – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 East Mountain vs. No. 10 Robertson – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 2 Tularosa vs. No. 15 West Las Vegas – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Texico vs. No. 16 Clayton – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 8 Tucumcari vs. No. 9 Mora – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Mesilla Valley Christian School vs. No. 12 Dulce – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 4 Santa Rosa vs. No. 13 Eunice – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 3 Mesa Vista vs. No. 14 Hozho Charter Academy – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Rehoboth Christian vs. No. 11 Oak Grove Classical – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 7 Escalante vs. No. 10 Menaul – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 2 Pecos vs. No. 15 Mescalero Apache – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 1 Logan vs. No. 16 Quemado – 03/07, 4:00 PM MT
No. 8 Cliff vs. No. 9 To’hajiilee – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 5 Alamo Navajo vs. No. 12 Grady – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 4 Melrose vs. No. 13 Elida – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 3 Cimarron vs. No. 14 Pine Hill – 03/07, 5:00 PM MT
No. 6 Roy/Mosquero vs. No. 11 Mountainair – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
No. 7 Magdalena vs. No. 10 Springer – 03/07, 3:00 PM MT
No. 2 Fort Sumner/House vs. No. 15 Gateway Christian – 03/07, 6:00 PM MT
The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.
A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.
State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.
“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”
Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.
All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.
The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.
Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.
Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.
New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.
With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.
State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”
According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.
As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.
On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.
The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.
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