Court Opinion

ID: 9660419
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:13:03.651815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:19.352291
License: Public Domain

SHORT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because the underage drinking statute is a criminal/prohibitory law, which state courts have jurisdiction to enforce on reservation land.
*230Public Law 280 granted the State of Minnesota broad criminal jurisdiction over offenses occurring on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. See Pub.L. No. 83-280, 67 Stat. 588 (1953) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 1162 (1994), 28 U.S.C. § 1360 (1994)) (providing all Indian country within Minnesota, except Red Lake Reservation, is subject to state criminal jurisdiction coextensive with jurisdiction outside Indian country); California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 207, 107 S.Ct. 1083, 1087, 94 L.Ed.2d 244 (1987) (recognizing Public Law 280’s broad grant of criminal jurisdiction). A state’s ability to enforce its laws on reservation land is dependent on the criminal/prohibitory or eivil/regulatory character of the law at issue. Id. at 209-10, 107 S.Ct. at 1088-89. Generally, state laws intended to prohibit certain conduct are criminal/prohibitory and enforceable under Public Law 280. By contrast, those laws which permit certain conduct subject to regulation are civil/regulatory and fall outside the state’s jurisdiction. Id. at 209, 107 S.Ct. at 1088; see Confederated Tribes v. Washington, 938 F.2d 146, 147 (9th Cir.1991) (distinguishing state laws that absolutely prohibit certain acts from state laws generally permitting conduct subject to regulation), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 997, 112 S.Ct. 1704, 118 L.Ed.2d 412 (1992). The shorthand test is whether the conduct at issue violates state public policy. Cabazon, 480 U.S. at 209,107 S.Ct. at 1088.
The underage drinking law does not merely regulate alcohol consumption. It absolutely prohibits the consumption of alcohol by persons under 21 years of age, subject only to the affirmative defense of consumption in a parent’s household with parental consent. Minn.Stat. § 340A.503, subd. 1(a)(2) (1996); see also United States v. Marcyes, 557 F.2d 1361, 1364 (9th Cir.1977) (concluding statute generally prohibited possession of dangerous fireworks, although it allowed for limited exceptions). There exists no mechanism by which a minor can obtain the privilege to consume alcoholic beverages outside the family home. See id. (recognizing distinction between regulatory licensing laws and statutes generally prohibiting given conduct); cf. State v. Stone, 557 N.W.2d 588, 592 (Minn.App.1996) (finding traffic statutes that conditioned driving privileges on various types of licensure, including those proscribing driving with expired registration or no license, to be civil/regulatory), review granted (Minn. Mar. 18, 1997). The law’s purpose is to prevent the general use of alcohol by minors, in an effort to promote the health and safety of minors themselves, as well as those affected by their conduct. Cf. St. Germaine v. Circuit Court, 938 F.2d 75, 77 (7th Cir.1991) (recognizing state’s important public policy of protecting lives and property on and off reservation), cert. denied, 503 U.S. 997, 112 S.Ct. 1704, 118 L.Ed.2d 412 (1992). Thus, the consumption of alcohol by those under age 21 violates the public policy of this state.
It is a mistake to address underage drinking simply as a subset of the larger category of alcohol consumption. See Confederated Tribes, 938 F.2d at 149 (noting proper inquiry in Public Law 280 analysis is whether prohibited activity is small subset or facet of larger, permitted activity); see, e.g., Caba-zon, 480 U.S. at 210-11, 107 S.Ct. at 1089 (concluding that although state prohibited high stakes bingo, it allowed gambling in other forms). While Minnesota generally permits the consumption of alcohol by adults, consumption by minors raises sufficiently increased policy concerns such that the legislature proscribed this conduct outright. See generally Minn.Stat. § 340A.501-.506 (1996) (permitting retail sales of alcohol to persons over 21 years of age who are not obviously intoxicated, subject to regulation of time of sale and types of alcohol sold). We should not disregard this clear legislative statement of public policy. Cf. Marcyes, 557 F.2d at 1364 (refusing to circumvent legislature’s determination that possession of fireworks was dangerous to citizens’ general welfare).
Because Minn.Stat. § 340A.503 (1996) prohibits underage consumption of alcohol, the law is criminal/prohibitory in nature and enforceable under Public Law 280. Accordingly, I would affirm the trial court’s exercise of jurisdiction over the offenses committed on reservation land by B.F.W. and B.J.D.