Opinion ID: 172454
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mr Fox's Eligibility to Assert a Treaty Right

Text: Although we find that individual Navajos may assert their treaty-guaranteed hunting rights as a general matter, this does not make Mr. Fox eligible to do so. Convicted felonseven those whose terms of imprisonment have been completed are often subject to legal obligations and restrictions that differ from those of the general population. See Green v. Berge, 354 F.3d 675, 680 (7th Cir.2004) (Easterbrook, J., concurring). A broad range of choices that might infringe [even one's] constitutional rights in free society fall within the expected conditions ... of those who have suffered a lawful conviction. McKune v. Lile, 536 U.S. 24, 36, 122 S.Ct. 2017, 153 L.Ed.2d 47 (2002). Persons convicted of felonies often lose the right to serve on juries, to vote, and of course, the right to possess firearms. See Margaret H. Lemos, The Commerce Power and Criminal Punishment: Presumption of Constitutionality or Presumption of Innocence, 84 Tex. L.Rev. 1203, 1235 (2006). If citizens may forfeit their most precious constitutional rights by commission of a felony, it is not surprising that members of Indian tribes may similarly forfeit important treaty rights. Thus, contrary to Mr. Fox's assertions, the Treaty of 1868 does not insulate him from the consequences of his criminal activity. Indeed, the treaty itself provides that members of the Navajo Nation who commit crimes forfeit privileges as a result of their actions. Article I of the Treaty stipulates that [i]f bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation upon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States ... the Navajo tribe agree that they will ... deliver up the wrongdoer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws.  (emphasis added). The implication seems clear that both signatories to the Treaty envisioned that members of the Navajo Nation committing crimes would lose certain rights under the treaty. If we were to read the treaty right as Mr. Fox asks us to, it is hard to see how any Navajo could be convicted of any federal crime of general applicability. Incarceration in federal prison is obviously incompatible with a number of treaty rights: the right to live in the Navajo reservation (Article II), the right to commence farming (Article V), and of course, the right to hunt. Mr. Fox's claim is essentially that any federal law restricting his ability to hunt on the Navajo reservation cannot apply to him in the absence of clear evidence that Congress actually considered the conflict between its intended action on the one hand and Indian treaty rights on the other. Dion, 476 U.S. at 740, 106 S.Ct. 2216. But any federal criminal laws resulting in incarceration have the effect of restricting the malefactor's ability to hunt. It surely is not the case that Navajos are immune from prosecution for fraud, drug offenses, antitrust violations, insider trading, or any other number of federal crimes by virtue of the fact that the United States guaranteed hunting rights to their tribe. When Congress passed 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) and its predecessors, it affixed a collateral regulatory consequence to all felony convictions as if it had amended each felony individually. Just as Mr. Fox lost the opportunity to hunt while physically incarcerated as a result of his conviction, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) prevents Mr. Fox from hunting with firearms as though it was explicitly part of his sentence for his earlier felonies. All of Mr. Fox's felony convictions postdate the enactment of the rule; thus, it was well-established on the date that he committed each of his felonies that a conviction would carry repercussions including the loss of his right to possess firearms. Notwithstanding the existence of this rule, Mr. Fox committed several felonies against persons subject to the authority of the United States. See Presentence Report 8, 11, 13 (describing Mr. Fox's convictions for attempted sexual intercourse without consent, aggravated assault, and attempted aggravated assault). As the treaty itself envisioned, the United States was free to punish[ ] [Mr. Fox] according to its laws. Treaty of 1868, Article I.