Opinion ID: 4546291
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tribal Sovereignty of the Blackfeet Nation

Text: Although the Blackfeet Nation is “physically within the territory of the United States and subject to ultimate federal control, they nonetheless remain a separate people, with the power of regulating their internal and social relations.” United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 322 (1978) (internal quotation marks removed). Consistent with that power, “[i]n many cases, a tribe’s decision to temporarily exclude a member will be another expression of its sovereign authority to determine the makeup of the community.” Tavares v. Whitehouse, 851 F.3d 863, 876 (9th Cir. 2017). Many White Horses overreads these general principles of tribal sovereignty in claiming that Special Condition 11 usurps the Blackfeet Nation’s authority to exercise control over its members through the power to banish or exclude tribal members. Many White Horses’s argument conflates two distinct issues: the authority of the Blackfeet tribe over its own members and the authority of the federal government over its citizens, including tribal members. Many White Horses mistakenly assumes that the condition functions as a UNITED STATES V. MANY WHITE HORSES 9 banishment from tribal lands, rather than as a temporary restraint on his ability to visit a tiny portion of the reservation absent permission from his probation officer. See Cothran, 855 F.2d at 752 (temporary restraint on entering county without probation officer’s permission is not an illegal banishment). An external condition that is not a banishment does not conflict with the sovereign authority of the Blackfeet tribe to govern the banishment or exclusion of its members. The tribe’s authority does not preclude the federal government from exercising its own authority over Many White Horses, including incarcerating him, conscripting him into the armed forces, or imposing geographic restrictions requiring that he not reside, or travel to, certain tribal lands without prior approval. These two sources of sovereignty— federal and tribal—co-exist in our system of government. Here, the federal government’s exercise of authority over Many White Horses does not infringe the inherent sovereignty of the Blackfeet Nation. For these reasons, the district court did not exceed its legal authority when it imposed Special Condition 11. II. The Residency Restriction is Substantively Reasonable A condition of supervised release must be both free of procedural error and substantively reasonable. Watson, 582 F.3d at 981. Many White Horses does not challenge procedural validity, as he concedes that the district court sufficiently explained its reasons for imposing the condition at sentencing. We therefore turn to the question of substantive reasonableness, which we review for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Napulou, 593 F.3d 1041, 1044 (9th Cir. 2010). 10 UNITED STATES V. MANY WHITE HORSES While a district court has broad discretion to impose special conditions of supervised release, the conditions must be “reasonably related” to deterrence, protection of the public, and/or rehabilitation and cannot involve “a greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary for the purposes [of deterrence, protection of the public, and/or rehabilitation].” 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)(1)–(2). The condition here merits careful review. See United States v. Wolf Child, 699 F.3d 1082, 1089 (9th Cir. 2012) (“Conditions affecting fundamental rights . . . are reviewed carefully.”) (internal quotation marks and citation removed); see also Watson, 582 F.3d at 983. The district court imposed the condition only after nine violations resulted in four revocations of Many White Horses’s supervised release. Since 2014, Many White Horses has engaged in a clear pattern of destructive behavior while in Browning, including repeated use of methamphetamine and alcohol, drunken and disorderly conduct, and physical and domestic abuse—all of which took place while he was on release. After this appeal was filed, but before oral argument, Many White Horses’s term of supervised release was revoked yet again after he received permission to visit Browning, and while there, used methamphetamine and became violent. In view of Many White Horses’s pattern of relapse and destructive behavior, the district court faced the need to craft a restriction that would address both rehabilitation and public safety. The court recognized that Browning was a magnet and a trigger for behavior that violated the conditions of Many White Horses’s supervised release. In fact, at his most recent revocation hearing, even Many White Horses himself acknowledged, “I think you’re right, your Honor,” when the district court explained that the defendant was UNITED STATES V. MANY WHITE HORSES 11 unable to prevent himself from using drugs and violating the conditions of his supervised release while living in Browning. Many White Horses’s suggestion that less restrictive conditions would be sufficient, such as a prohibition on using drugs and alcohol, simply falls flat in the face of his past conduct. The district court gave Many White Horses numerous chances to serve his term of supervised release under lesser restrictions, and he has demonstrated that they are insufficient. The court was also cognizant of Many White Horses’s need for rehabilitation and sensitive to the significance of Browning in his life. In light of that significance, the court ordered Many White Horses to attend a temporary residential drug treatment program at a facility in Browning. “We have repeatedly upheld residency and travel conditions aimed at keeping a convicted defendant away from circumstances that might lead him to offend again.” Watson, 582 F.3d at 983. Many White Horses admittedly has “important . . . and unique” connections to Browning, the reservation’s only incorporated municipality. Id. at 984. This case thus merits a closer look than the classic use of a residential condition that we have long endorsed. 1 Even so, Special Condition 11 is neither too broad geographically nor does it impose an impermissible burden on Many White 1 Watson involved a condition barring the defendant from entering San Francisco. 582 F.3d at 984. For all of that city’s charms, its relationship to a resident cannot compare to the unique role a federal reservation holds in Indian life. These bonds, coupled with the tribal resources that cannot be accessed elsewhere, foster a connection far more important and unique than a resident’s typical connection to a municipality. 12 UNITED STATES V. MANY WHITE HORSES Horses’s liberty given his repeated violation of lesser restrictions. Unlike the residency condition upheld by the Sixth Circuit in United States v. Alexander on a very similar set of facts, Many White Horses is not required to live hundreds of miles from his family and community. 509 F.3d 253, 255– 56 (6th Cir. 2007) (upholding a residency restriction that required defendant to live hundreds of miles from his family and his federally-recognized Indian community without the ability to visit after previously imposed conditions of supervised release had proven ineffective). Instead, he is merely prohibited from living in the town of Browning itself. Many White Horses remains free to reside in a nearby unincorporated town, East Glacier Park Village, or in one of the other numerous small towns surrounding the reservation. With the permission of his probation officer, Many White Horses is also free to visit Browning for any other purpose, so long as he “provide[s] the probation officer with the purpose of his visit to Browning, the expected duration of his stay in Browning, a phone number at which he can be reached during his stay in Browning, and address(es) of the place(s) he will visit in Browning, and a list of persons he intends to see in Browning.” The fact that the geographic restriction is not absolute, and Many White Horses may visit with the approval of his probation officer, “helps to mitigate the severity of the limitation.” Watson, 582 F.3d at 984 (contrasting a geographic restriction that allows for approved visitation with more restrictive conditions). This requirement does not unduly restrict Many White Horses’s ability to visit his family and community, to participate in tribal life, to receive treatment in Browning, and to live nearby. Far from a de facto banishment, Special Condition 11 is a targeted set of requirements that preserves UNITED STATES V. MANY WHITE HORSES 13 his ability to visit Browning while still providing his probation officer with tools to help protect Many White Horses and his community from his self-destructive behavior. The district court chose a path that “involve[d] no greater deprivation of liberty” than was reasonably necessary under the circumstances and was reasonably related to deterrence, protection of the public, and rehabilitation. See 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d)(1)–(2). AFFIRMED.