With the nation’s highest court stacked with even more conservative justices, tribes are once again paying close attention to a COVID-19 funding dispute they thought was over.

Spending $177 million may not seem like a problem, but it is a challenge for Navajo Nation leaders who could lose those funds if they don’t find projects that can be completed by the end of this year.

Tribal governments remain united as a federal appeals court determines the fate of more than a half-billion dollars in COVID-19 funding that’s been at the center of one of the most bitter Indian law and policy disputes in decades.