The long, circuitous path of a lawsuit against the federal government for cutting off water during the crushing 2014 drought to farms and cities that rely on supplies from the Friant-Kern and Madera canals could lead all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lisa McEwen

SJV Water

At least, that’s the goal of attorneys who filed a writ of certiorari on behalf of 20 Friant Water Authority districts, the City of Fresno and several San Joaquin Valley farmers on Sept. 5.

The filing is a formal request for the high court to review the case. The lawsuit stems from when the Bureau of Reclamation issued a “zero allocation” to Friant water contractors in 2014 and again during the drought year of 2015.

In 2016, the case went to the Court of Federal Claims, which dismissed the Friant districts’ ille

See Full Page