At a glance
Trust integrity: Under review (methodology)- Enabling Act
- Arizona-New Mexico Enabling Act (1910), 36 Stat. 557
- Trust fund value
- Pending
- AG opinions in substrate
- Pending — Phase 4 sourcing
- Key cases
- 1
- Advocacy contact
- pending
Why this state matters
Express 'in trust' language in the 1910 Enabling Act. State Land Office manages roughly 9 million surface acres and 13 million mineral acres for trust beneficiaries.
Key cases
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United States v. New Mexico , 438 U.S. 696 (1978)
Holding. Federal reserved water rights extend only to the primary purposes of the federal reservation; ancillary purposes must be supplied by state law.
Why it matters. Cited in trust-lands water cases for the proposition that the scope of federal reservation doctrine constrains, but does not displace, state trust-land claims to water revenues.
Notable AG opinions
AG opinions for New Mexico are being sourced in Phase 4 — see the Atlas index for a campus-wide search.
First-draft preview. Substrate sources: Margaret Bird, Trust Land Case Quotes by Topic (2021); OASTL legal.md (2026-05-16); ASTL thematic research (2026-05-17). Phase 2 will deepen this dossier.
