Aug. 7, 2026
When water rights met voting rights
Fifty years after *Choudhry v. Free* ended landowner-only control of California water district boards, the plaintiff and his CRLA lawyers recall the backlash, as the high court weighs an unusual four water cases.
Fifty years ago this week, the California Supreme Court decided a case out of Imperial County that linked two issues very much in play right now: voting rights and water rights.
Today the high court has an unusually high number of water rights cases on its docket, reflecting mounting natural-resource conflicts across an increasingly arid West. And the onrushing midterm elections have already spawned major redistricting conflicts and ballot seizure disputes, likely with more to com...
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