Opinion ID: 741730
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ute Indian Tribe III: The 1985 Court of Appeals En Banc Decision

Text: 22 On rehearing en banc, a majority of the court held that all of the lands at issue retained their reservation status. Ute Indian Tribe v. Utah, 773 F.2d 1087, 1093 (10th Cir.1985) (en banc) (hereinafter Ute Indian Tribe III ). The en banc court concluded that the 1902-1905 allotment legislation did not have the effect of diminishing or disestablishing the Uintah Valley Reservation. Id. at 1089. Similarly, the court held that the withdrawal of the National Forest Lands did not diminish the Uintah Valley Reservation, id. at 1090, and that the 1894 and 1897 allotment legislation did not disestablish the Uncompahgre Reservation. Id. at 1093. 23 In reaching a holding completely contrary to the panel, the en banc court relied on the newly-decided case of Solem v. Bartlett, 465 U.S. 463, 104 S.Ct. 1161, 79 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984). The court concluded that under Solem, congressional language restoring reservation lands to the public domain is not the same as a congressional state of mind to diminish, and hence does not reliably establish the clear and unequivocal evidence of Congress' intent to change the boundaries. Ute Indian Tribe III, 773 F.2d at 1092. Further, the court found no legislative history or other contemporary historical evidence sufficient to support a finding of diminishment or disestablishment as to any of the lands in question. Id. at 1092-93. Thus, the court held that all the lands retained their reservation status and remained Indian country, subject to the jurisdiction of the Tribe and the federal government. Thereafter, the Supreme Court denied certiorari. Utah v. Ute Indian Tribe, 479 U.S. 994, 107 S.Ct. 596, 93 L.Ed.2d 596 (1986). 24 III. UTAH V. HAGEN: THE 1994 SUPREME COURT DECISION 25 In several related criminal cases arising in the late 1980s, the Utah Supreme Court ruled, contrary to the Tenth Circuit, that the original boundaries of the Uintah Valley Reservation had been diminished by the 1902-1905 allotment legislation. See State v. Perank, 858 P.2d 927 (Utah 1992); State v. Coando, 858 P.2d 926 (Utah 1992); State v. Hagen, 858 P.2d 925 (Utah 1992). The cases arose as a result of state felony prosecutions against three Indians for crimes committed in Myton and Roosevelt, Utah, two towns within the original boundaries of the Uintah Valley Reservation. The defendants challenged the prosecutions on the basis that the state trial court lacked jurisdiction over their crimes because the defendants committed their crimes in Indian country as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151(a). The defendants argued that under our en banc decision in Ute Indian Tribe III, the towns remained within the Reservation and thus within Indian country. The State of Utah, on the other hand, argued that our holding in Ute Indian Tribe III was wrong, that the Reservation had been diminished, and that the towns were outside the Reservation and thus outside Indian country. The Utah Supreme Court agreed with the State, and held that because the Reservation had been diminished, the state trial court properly exercised criminal jurisdiction over the defendants. Perank, 858 P.2d at 953; Coando, 858 P.2d at 927; Hagen, 858 P.2d 925-26. 26 In 1993, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hagen to resolve the conflict between the decisions of the Tenth Circuit and the Utah Supreme Court. Hagen v. Utah, 507 U.S. 1028, 113 S.Ct. 1840, 123 L.Ed.2d 466 (1993). In 1994, the Supreme Court affirmed the Utah Supreme Court's resolution of the boundary issue, expressly rejecting Ute Indian Tribe III 's conclusion that the Uintah Valley Reservation had not been diminished. Hagen v. Utah, 510 U.S. 399, 421-22, 114 S.Ct. 958, 970-71, 127 L.Ed.2d 252 (1994). 27 In Hagen, the Supreme Court performed a familiar analysis of the statutory language, legislative history, and contemporary historical understanding of the allotment legislation at issue. See id. at 410-21, 114 S.Ct. at 964-71. The Court's analysis, however, was limited to the status of the unallotted Uintah Valley Reservation lands opened to settlement under the 1902-1905 allotment legislation. See id. The Court did not address the National Forest Lands or the Uncompahgre Reservation, neither of which was before the Court for consideration. After looking to the three diminishment factors, the Court concluded that Congress's baseline intent to diminish the Reservation expressed in the 1902 Act survived the passage of the 1905 Act, id. at 415, 114 S.Ct. at 967, and that the [c]ontemporary historical evidence supports [the] conclusion that Congress intended to diminish the Uintah Reservation. Id. at 416, 114 S.Ct. at 968. The Court therefore upheld the State of Utah's exercise of criminal jurisdiction over acts occurring within the original boundaries of the Uintah Valley Reservation. Id. at 421-22, 114 S.Ct. at 970-71. 28 IV. Ute Indian Tribe IV: The 1996 District Court Decision 29 Immediately after the Utah Supreme Court issued its slip opinions in the state criminal cases, the Tribe filed a motion in federal district court seeking a permanent injunction preventing the state and local defendants from enforcing or relying upon Perank, Coando, and Hagen in any way. On August 31, 1992, the state and local defendants and the Tribe entered into a stipulation, under which the state and local defendants agreed to refrain from enforcing the Utah Supreme Court decision in Perank or exercising jurisdiction in any manner inconsistent with the en banc decision in Ute Indian Tribe III, pending a decision on the merits in the district court. The district court incorporated the stipulation into an order dated September 2, 1992 (Injunction Order). 30 In 1993, after the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hagen, the district court stayed further proceedings on the Tribe's motion pending the outcome of Hagen in the Supreme Court. On February 23, 1994, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Hagen. On April 24, 1994, the state and local defendants filed a motion to vacate and set aside the Injunction Order and to dismiss the Tribe's motion for permanent injunctive relief. 31 On May 2, 1994, the district court modified the Injunction Order to allow the [s]tate and [l]ocal [d]efendants to prosecute felony crimes occurring on lands within the original boundaries of the Uintah Valley Reservation which are not 'Indian country' as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 1151, et seq. The court emphasized that it was not determining one way or another which lands may or may not constitute 'Indian country.'  1 32 On April 2, 1996, the district court issued Ute Indian Tribe v. Utah, 935 F.Supp. 1473 (D.Utah 1996) (Ute Indian Tribe IV ). In a comprehensive and detailed opinion, the district court fully addressed the binding effect, as between the parties, of our earlier en banc decision in Ute Indian Tribe III, as well as the extent of direct conflict between Ute Indian Tribe III and Hagen. Id. at 1484-1516. Rather than finally deciding these issues, however, the district court held that it was bound under law of the case rules to enforce the mandate in Ute Indian Tribe III. Id. at 1516-25. Thus, the district court did not reach the merits of the Tribe's request for permanent injunctive relief. Id. In lieu of a final resolution of the dispute, the district court requested that we issue instructions on how to proceed and suggested that we construe the request as an invitation to recall our mandate in Ute Indian Tribe III. The court also concluded that the Injunction Order, as modified, should remain in effect to allow the state and local defendants to prosecute criminal felonies occurring on former Uintah Valley Reservation lands. Id. at 1531. This appeal followed.