Petitioner's Brief Herrera v Wyoming

0.29 MB·English

No. 17-532
In the
Supreme Court of the United States
________________
CLAYVIN B. HERRERA,
Petitioner,
v.
STATE OF WYOMING,
Respondent.
________________

On Writ of Certiorari to the
District Court of Wyoming,
Sheridan County
________________
BRIEF FOR PETITIONER
________________
KYLE A. GRAY GEORGE W. HICKS, JR.
STEVEN T. SMALL Counsel of Record
HOLLAND & HART LLP ANDREW C. LAWRENCE
401 N. 31st Street, KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP
Suite 1500 655 Fifteenth Street, NW
Billings, MT 59101 Washington, DC 20005
[phone] [phone]
[email protected]
HADASSAH REIMER
HOLLAND & HART LLP
25 South Willow Street,
Suite 200
P.O. Box 68
Jackson, WY 83001
[phone]
Counsel for Petitioner
September 4, 2018
QUESTION PRESENTED
Whether Wyoming’s admission to the Union or
the establishment of the Bighorn National Forest
abrogated the Crow Tribe of Indians’ 1868 federal
treaty right to hunt on the “unoccupied lands of the
United States,” thereby permitting the present-day
criminal conviction of a Crow member who engaged in
subsistence hunting for his family.
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUESTION PRESENTED .......................................... i
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ...................................... iv
INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 1
OPINIONS BELOW ................................................... 4
JURISDICTION ......................................................... 4
CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY
PROVISIONS INVOLVED ...................................... 4
STATEMENT OF THE CASE ................................... 4
A. Historical and Legal Background ................ 4
B. Petitioner’s Prosecution and Conviction ... 13
C. The Decision Below .................................... 15
SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT .................................. 18
ARGUMENT ............................................................. 22
I. The Crow Tribe’s Hunting Right Under The
1868 Treaty Has Not Been Abrogated. ............. 22
A. Wyoming’s Admission to the Union Did
Not Abrogate the Crow Tribe’s Treaty
Right ........................................................... 23
B. The Establishment of the Bighorn
National Forest Did Not Abrogate the
Crow Tribe’s Treaty Right ......................... 32
C. Affirming the Decision Below Would
Have Far-Reaching Consequences ............ 41
II. Issue Preclusion Does Not Bar Petitioner
From Addressing The Treaty Right’s
Validity .............................................................. 46
iii
A. The Repsis Courts’ Determination that
Wyoming’s Statehood Abrogated the
Treaty Right Is Not Entitled to
Preclusive Effect. ........................................ 46
B. The Tenth Circuit’s Alternative
Determination in Repsis that Creation of
the Bighorn National Forest Rendered
the Ceded Lands “Occupied” Is Not
Entitled to Preclusive Effect ...................... 49
C. Applying Issue Preclusion Here Would
Needlessly Implicate Unsettled
Constitutional Questions ........................... 54
CONCLUSION ......................................................... 59
APPENDIX
U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2 ........................................... 1a
Treaty with the Crow Indians, 15 Stat. 649
(1868) ...................................................................... 2a
Wyoming Statehood Act, 26 Stat. 222 (1890) ........ 14a
Act to Repeal Timber-Culture Laws, 26 Stat. 1095
(1891) .................................................................... 25a
Presidential Proclamation No. 30, 29 Stat. 909
(Feb. 22, 1897) ...................................................... 26a
iv
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases
Allen v. McCurry,
449 U.S. 90 (1980) .................................................. 52
Antoine v. Washington,
420 U.S. 194 (1975) .......................................... 29, 45
Arizona v. California,
530 U.S. 392 (2000) ................................................ 57
Bobby v. Bies,
556 U.S. 825 (2009) .......................................... 47, 50
Bravo-Fernandez v. United States,
137 S. Ct. 352 (2016) ............................ 16, 50, 51, 56
Choctaw Nation of Indians v. United States,
318 U.S. 423 (1943) ........................................ passim
Comm’r v. Sunnen,
333 U.S. 591 (1948) .......................................... 47, 48
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation v. Maison,
262 F. Supp. 871 (D. Or. 1966) .............................. 44
Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis,
116 S. Ct. 1851 (1996) ............................................ 12
Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis,
73 F.3d 982 (10th Cir. 1995) .......................... passim
Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis,
866 F. Supp. 520 (D. Wyo. 1994) ........... 2, 11, 12, 47
Currier v. Virginia,
138 S. Ct. 2144 (2018) ............................................ 56
Hansberry v. Lee,
311 U.S. 32 (1940) .................................................. 55
v
Hurd v. District of Columbia,
864 F.3d 671 (D.C. Cir. 2017) ................................ 52
Jones v. Meehan,
175 U.S. 1 (1899) .................................................... 22
Kircher v. Putnam Funds Tr.,
547 U.S. 633 (2006) ................................................ 51
Limbach v. Hooven & Allison Co.,
466 U.S. 353 (1984) ................................................ 47
Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Cmty.,
134 S. Ct. 2024 (2014) ............................................ 55
Minnesota
v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians,
526 U.S. 172 (1999) ........................................ passim
Montana v. United States,
440 U.S. 147 (1979) ................................................ 47
Montana v. United States,
450 U.S. 544 (1981) ...................................... 4, 5, 7, 8
N.W. Austin Mun. Util. Dist. No. One
v. Holder,
557 U.S. 193 (2009) ................................................ 54
New Hampshire v. Maine,
532 U.S. 742 (2001) ................................................ 46
Parklane Hosiery Co., Inc. v. Shore,
439 U.S. 322 (1979) ................................................ 52
Richards v. Jefferson Cty.,
517 U.S. 793 (1996) ................................................ 55
Sekhar v. United States,
570 U.S. 729 (2013) ................................................ 33
Semtek Int’l Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp.,
531 U.S. 497 (2001) ................................................ 50
vi
Seufert Bros. Co. v. United States,
249 U.S. 194 (1919) .......................................... 23, 36
Simpson v. Florida,
403 U.S. 384 (1971) ................................................ 56
Smith v. Bayer Corp.,
564 U.S. 299 (2011) ................................................ 55
South Dakota v. Bourland,
508 U.S. 679 (1993) .......................................... 23, 25
Standefer v. United States,
447 U.S. 10 (1980) .................................................. 57
State v. Arthur,
261 P.2d 135 (Idaho 1953) ..................................... 44
State v. Buchanan,
978 P.2d 1070 (Wash. 1999) .................................. 30
State v. Miller,
689 P.2d 81 (Wash. 1984) ...................................... 43
State v. Stasso,
563 P.2d 562 (Mont. 1977) ..................................... 43
State v. Tinno,
497 P.2d 1386 (Idaho 1972) ................................... 43
Swim v. Bergland,
696 F.2d 712 (9th Cir. 1983) .................................. 39
Taylor v. Sturgell,
553 U.S. 880 (2008) ........................................ passim
United States v. Gallardo-Mendez,
150 F.3d 1240 (10th Cir. 1998) .............................. 57
United States v. Harnage,
976 F.2d 633 (11th Cir. 1992) ................................ 57
United States v. Hicks,
587 F. Supp. 1162 (W.D. Wash. 1984) .................. 14
vii
United States v. Mendoza,
464 U.S. 154 (1984) ................................................ 55
United States v. Pelullo,
14 F.3d 881 (3d Cir. 1994) ..................................... 57
United States v. Stauffer Chem. Co.,
464 U.S. 165 (1984) ................................................ 50
Ward v. Race Horse,
163 U.S. 504 (1896) .............................. 11, 12, 27, 29
Wash. Game Dep’t v. Puyallup Tribe,
414 U.S. 44 (1973) .................................................. 45
Washington v. Wash. State Commercial
Passenger Fishing Vessel Ass’n,
443 U.S. 658, 675 (1979) ............................ 22, 34, 44
Worcester v. Georgia,
31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832) ..................................... 22
Yakima v. Confederated Tribes & Bands of
Yakima Indian Nation,
502 U.S. 251 (1992) ................................................ 22
Constitutional Provision
Wyo. Const. art. XXI ................................................... 9
Statutes and Proclamations
16 U.S.C. §256b ........................................................ 14
43 U.S.C. §1732(b) .................................................... 14
Act of April 11, 1882, 22 Stat. 42 ............................... 8
Act of April 27, 1904, 33 Stat. 352 ............................. 8
Act of August 31, 1937, 50 Stat. 884 .......................... 8
Act of June 4, 1897, 30 Stat. 11 ............................... 38
Act of March 3, 1891, 26 Stat. 989 ............................. 8
Act of March 4, 1907, 34 Stat. 1256 ......................... 10
viii
Act to Repeal Timber-Culture Laws,
26 Stat. 1095 (1891) ..................................... 9, 10, 39
Act to Provide a Temporary Government for
the Territory of Wyoming,
July 25, 1868, 15 Stat. 178 ...................................... 9
Crow Boundary Settlement Act of 1994,
Pub. L. 103-444, 108 Stat. 4632 .............................. 8
Proclamation No. 30, 29 Stat. 909
(Feb. 22, 1897) ............................................ 10, 37, 39
Wyo. Stat. §23-3-102(d) ............................................ 14
Wyo. Stat. §23-6-205................................................. 14
Wyoming Statehood Act, 26 Stat. 222 (1890) ...... 9, 25
Treaties
First Treaty of Fort Laramie, Sept. 17, 1851,
11 Stat. 749 .............................................................. 5
Treaty with Nisqualli, Puyallup, etc.,
Dec. 26, 1854, 10 Stat. 1132 .................................. 43
Treaty with the Crow Indians, May 7, 1868,
15 Stat. 649 .................................................... passim
Treaty with the Crow Tribe, Aug. 4, 1825,
7 Stat. 266 ................................................................ 5
Treaty with the Dwamish, Suquamish, and
Other Allied and Subordinate Tribes of
Indians in Washington Territory,
Jan. 22, 1855, 12 Stat. 927 .................................... 43
Treaty with the Eastern Band of Shoshonees
and the Bannack Tribe of Indians,
July 3, 1868, 15 Stat. 673 ...................................... 42
ix
Treaty with the Flathead, Kootenay, and
Upper Pend d’Oreilles Indians,
July 16, 1855, 12 Stat. 975 .................................... 42
Treaty with the Makah Tribe of Indians,
Jan. 31, 1855, 12 Stat. 939 .................................... 43
Treaty with the Navajo Tribe of Indians,
Aug. 12, 1868, 15 Stat. 667. ................................... 42
Treaty with the Nez Perce Indians,
June 11, 1855, 12 Stat. 957 ................................... 42
Treaty with the Qui-nai-elt and Quil-leh-ute
Indians, Jan. 25, 1856, 12 Stat. 971 ..................... 42
Treaty with the S’Klallam Indians,
Jan. 26, 1855, 12 Stat. 933 .................................... 43
Treaty with the Walla-Walla, Cayuses, and
Umatilla Tribes and Bands of Indians in
Washington and Oregon Territories,
June 9, 1855, 12 Stat. 945 ..................................... 43
Other Authorities
2 Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Dictionary of
Terms and Phrases Used in American or
English Jurisprudence (1879) ............................... 36
About The District Courts, Wyo. Jud. Branch,
http://bit.ly/2xd73ik
(last visited Sept. 3, 2018) ..................................... 15
American Heritage Dictionary of the English
Language (1992) .................................................... 36
Robert T. Anderson, Sovereignty and
Subsistence: Native Self-Government and
Rights to Hunt, Fish, and Gather After
ANCSA, 33 Alaska L. Rev. 187 (2016) .................. 30