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Attorney: Don Wharton
Case Update
NARF has been retained by the Eastern Shoshone Tribe (EST) of the Wind River Indian Reservation to analyze the legal implications of the Surplus Land Act of March 3, 1905 for the Shoshone or Wind River Indian Reservation as they may have affected the boundaries of that Reservation. NARF is working with the Tribe's Attorney General and the Shoshone Business Council to secure the vindication of the boundary. The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in January of 2008 that the boundaries of the reservation had been diminished when it upheld the conviction of a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe for a crime committed within the City of Riverton, Wyoming. The defendant in that case, Mr. Andrew Yellowbear, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for Wyoming seeking a ruling from the federal courts that the boundary has not been diminished. Undiminished boundaries would mean that the State Wyoming lacks jurisdiction over the crime because it took place within "Indian Country" and was therefore within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. That petition was denied by the Court on July 23, 2009, and was immediately appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit where it is pending.
In addition, the Northern Arapaho Tribe through its attorneys, has filed a case in federal district court, NAT V. Harnsberger, against state and county employees challenging the collection of certain taxes assessed on the Tribe and "Indians". That case attempted to raise the question of the effect of the 1905 Act on the boundary of the Reservation. On January 29, 2009 the Court ordered that the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the United States be joined as Third Party Defendants and that the EST and United States file pleadings responding to the complaint in the case. Both the EST and the US filed motions to dismiss on the grounds of sovereign immunity. On October 6, 2009 the Court entered an Order followed by entry of Judgment on October 9, 2009 granting dismissal of the EST and the US, and dismissing the case. On October 16, 2009, the Shoshone Tribe filed a Motion to Alter the Order of the Court, because the Order contains holdings that are prejudicial to the Shoshone Tribe and not necessary to the Judgment of Dismissal. The Northern Arapaho Tribe's attorneys have announced their intention to appeal the Judgment of dismissal to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.
The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes, through their respective attorneys, are also cooperating in an application to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for delegation of "treatment in the same manner as a state," also known as TAS, in the administration of certain Clean Air Act programs. The determination supporting delegation to the Tribes from US-EPA will require that US-EPA determine the location of the boundary of the Reservation. The TAS Application has been published by US-EPA and they have received comments. The Tribes are preparing their responses to the comments. Finally, the Eastern Shoshone Tribe is working with local and state governments to seek common grounds for agreement on a range of shared interests.
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