Court Opinion

ID: 9458363
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:50:31.215764+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:44.702854
License: Public Domain

MERRILL, Circuit Judge
(dissenting) :
I dissent.
The question concerns the reasonableness of the construction effectively placed upon the Snyder Act by the regulation.1 I do not find that construction to be unreasonable.
*825I think it important to note that the statute is simply one authorizing expenditures for the Indians. See S.Rep. No.294, 67th Cong., 1st Sess. (1921); H.Rep.No.275, 67th Cong., 1st Sess. (1921); 61 Cong.Rec. 4659, 4668-69, 4671-73, 4675, 4680, 4683-84 (1921). As such, it is quite naturally stated in the broadest terms and thus allows the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help Indians everywhere in the nation. As one commentator has noted, the Act was “intended merely as an authorization for general appropriations,” with the specifics of administration left to the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau. Wolf, Needed: A System of Income Maintenance for Indians, 10 Ariz.L.Rev. 597, 607-08 (1968).
But the granting of broad authority does not preclude (indeed, it seems to require) reasonable Bureau decisions as to how its limited funds may best be allocated and the drawing of reasonable classifications determining areas of greatest need. It does not to me seem an unreasonable determination that reservation Indians, who apparently have less employment opportunity, see Wolf, supra, at 598, and greater difficulty in obtaining state assistance, see id. at 599-606, 608-09, comprise a category particularly in need of ongoing, general financial assistance, while off-reservation Indians generally are in a better position to fend for themselves. Further, the difficulties of administering a system of general aid, if extended off reservations, would pose substantial problems.2
As to the constitutional questions, which the majority found it unnecessary to reach, for the reasons stated I do not regard the classifications drawn as unreasonable and a denial of equal protection. Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. *826471, 90 S.Ct. 1153, 25 L.Ed.2d 491 (1970).
Nor do I find merit in appellants’ contention that the regulation infringes their right to travel under Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969). The question there was the right of those who had recently traveled to and established residence in a particular state or the District of Columbia to stand on an equal footing respecting welfare benefits with others similarly situated in their new place of residence. It did not suggest that the travelers could claim benefits equal to those who had chosen to stay behind.
Accordingly I would affirm.

. Great weight is to be attributed to a regulation of such long standing. See Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 16, 85 S.Ct. 792, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1965). This court has similarly emphasized the deference owing to a regulation promulgated by an agency that is responsible for administration in the sphere in which the regulation operates. See, e. g., Udall v. Battle Mountain Co., 385 F.2d 90, 94-96 (9th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 957, 88 S.Ct. 1041, 19 L.Ed.2d 1151 (1968).
Here, the regulation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs limiting general assistance benefits to Indians living on reservations (with exceptions for the special cases of
*825Bureau jurisdictions in Alaska and Oklahoma), 66 Indian Affairs Manual 3.1.4 (A), was first issued in 1952. The Bureau’s policy reflected in the regulation has been repeatedly presented to Congress. See, e. g., Hearings on H.R. 9029 Before Subcom. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 90th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, at 695 (1967); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1968 Before Subcom. of House Appropriations Comm., 90th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, at 777 (1967); Hearings on H.R. 14215 Before Subcom. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 89th Cong., 2d Sess., pt. 1, at 267, 298, 301-302 (1966); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1967 Before Subcom. of House Appropriations Comm., 89th Cong., 2d Sess., pt. 1, at 255 (1966) ; Hearings on H.R. 6767 Before Subcom. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 89th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, at 653 (1965); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1966 Before Subcom. of House Appropriations Comm., 89th Cong., 1st Sess., pt. 1, at 747; Hearings on H.R. 10433 Before Subcomm. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 88th Cong., 2d Sess., at 148 (1964); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1965 Before Subcom. of House Appropriations Comm., 88th Cong., 2d Sess., at 775 (1964); Hearings on H.R. 5279 Before Subcom. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 88th Cong., 1st Sess., at 70 (1963); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1964 Before Subcom. of House Appropriations Comm., 88th Cong., 1st Sess., at 843-844 (1963). See also Hearings on H.R. 10746 Before Sub-comm. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 85th Cong., 2d Sess., at 292 (1958) ; Hearings on Dept, of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1960 Before Subcomm. of House Appropriations Comm., 86th Cong., 1st Sess., at 801 (1959).
That the Bureau has provided assistance in various forms to off-reservation Indians, e. g., through programs offering relocation, educational and health care services, should not alter, in my view, this court’s assessment of the Bureau’s policy with regard to general assistance benefits. See text and note 2 infra. Nor do I find the majority’s discussion of jurisdictional uncertainty on the part of the Bureau to be relevant to the narrower issue presented here as to the limited character of the general assistance program.

. See, e. g., Hearings on H.R. 14215 Before Subcomm. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 89th Cong., 2d Sess., pt. 1, at 301-302 (1966); Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1960 Before Subcomm. of *826House Appropriations Comm.; 86th Cong., 1st Sess., at 801 (1959); Hearings on H.R. 10746 Before Subcomm. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 85th Cong., 2d Sess., at 292-293 (1958); Hearings on H.R. 3790 Before Subcomm. of Senate Appropriations Comm., 82d Cong., 1st Sess., at 372 (1951). General assistance benefits are provided as a residual supplementing other resources and public aid that may be available. 66 Indian Affairs Manual 3.1.3, 3.1.4 (B); See Hearings on Dep’t of Interior & Related Agencies Appropriations for 1960 Before Subcomm. of House Appropriations Comm., 86th Cong., 1st Sess., at 801 (1959). Unlike other types of Bureau assistance, ongoing, general assistance if extended off-reservation would require extensive and continuous participation of Bureau field workers serving individual Indians everywhere.