Court Opinion

ID: 9489931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:28:05.777696+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:48.305408
License: Public Domain

BEAM, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
Judge Heaney has written a very well-reasoned opinion for the court in which I concur, except for part IV A.2. dealing with inherent sovereignty. For the reasons I advanced in A-1 Contractors v. Strate, 76 F.3d 930, 941-42 (8th Cir.), cert. granted, — U.S. -, 117 S.Ct. 37, 135 L.Ed.2d 1128 (1996), it is my view that the Tribe has a “valid tribal interest” in the regulation of hunting and fishing activities on all lands, whether tribal, member-owned, or nonmember-owned, within the geographic confines of the reservation. Thus, the second exception set forth in Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 566, 101 S.Ct. 1245, 1258, 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981)—holding that a tribe may regulate, as a sovereign, conduct that “threatens or has some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security, or the health and welfare of the tribe,” — requires abatement of South Dakota’s effort to invade tribal territory.
I believe that the district court (and this court in affirming the district court) effects an incorrect analysis of the sovereignty issue at play in this case. The court says “[w]e hold that the district court did not err in its determination that the Tribe failed to establish sufficient evidence [of sovereignty] to prevent summary judgment....” Supra at 1024. This is not (or at least should not be) the test.
“Indian tribes- are unique aggregations possessing attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory.” United States v. Wheeler, 435 U.S. 313, 323, 98 S.Ct. 1079, 1086, 55 L.Ed.2d 303 (1978) (emphasis supplied). Until Congress acts, the Tribe possesses those aspects of sovereignty not withdrawn by treaty or statute. Id. “Tribal authority over the activities of non-Indians on reservation lands is an important part of tribal sovereignty.” Iowa Mut. Ins. Co. v. LaPlante, 480 U.S. 9, 18, 107 S.Ct. 971, 977, 94 L.Ed.2d 10 (1987). Although speaking specifically of tribal court jurisdiction, the Supreme Court noted that, “[c]ivil jurisdiction over such activities [of non-Indians on reservation lands] presumptively lies in the tribal courts unless affirmatively limited by a specific treaty provision or federal statute.” Id. (emphasis supplied). ‘“Because the Tribe retains all inherent attributes of sovereignty that have not been divested by the Federal Government, the proper inference from silence ... is that the sovereign power ... remains intact.’ ” Id. (quoting Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 149 n. 14, 102 S.Ct. 894, 907 n. 14, 71 L.Ed.2d 21 (1982)).
South Dakota asserts its own sovereign power when it regulates hunting and fishing outside of the reservation but within the borders of the State. The sovereignty of the Tribe over the lands of the reservation when such sovereignty is unencumbered by treaty or federal law, as here, provides equal, if not superior, authority to the Lower Brule government. And the State’s sovereignty, it seems to me, in no way attenuates, displaces, or makes subservient the territorial sovereignty of an Indian tribe on reservation lands that also lie within the boundaries of South Dakota — at least such sovereign power as is necessary to regulate fishing and wildlife activity. Indeed, we recognize in this very case the authority of the Tribe to regulate these activities on parts of the reservation and its long-standing use of this authority. Accordingly, there is, in my view, a presumption of Lower Brule sovereign power sufficient to regulate hunting and fishing within the outer boundaries of the reservation (except for the taken lands) since neither treaty nor congressional act has affirmatively abrogated these retained tribal powers, powers that have existed since prior to South Dakota statehood.
Thus, it seems to me that it is South Dakota and not the Tribe that has the “laboring oar” on the issue of fishing and wildlife jurisdiction over nonmember fee lands and waters within the reservation. In my view, the State has fallen woefully short of sustaining its burden under the rules we apply to motions for summary judgment.
It is well settled that a waiver of tribal sovereign immunity “ ‘cannot be implied but must be unequivocally expressed.’” Santa *1027Clara Pueblo v. Martinez, 436 U.S. 49, 58, 98 S.Ct. 1670, 1677, 56 L.Ed.2d 106 (1978)(quoting United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, 399, 96 S.Ct. 948, 953-54, 47 L.Ed.2d 114 (1976)). And the Supreme Court has said: “We found [in McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission, 411 U.S. 164, 168, 93 S.Ct. 1257, 1260, 36 L.Ed.2d 129 (1973) ] a ‘deeply rooted’ policy in our Nation’s history of ‘leaving Indians free from state jurisdiction and control.’” Oklahoma Tax Comm’n v. Sac and Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114, 123, 113 S.Ct. 1985, 1991, 124 L.Ed.2d 30 (1993). Thus, although not directly on point, these holdings dictate that on the facts of this ease, as we presently know them, South Dakota should not be allowed to substitute its sovereign power for the presumptive sovereignty of the Tribe over lands within the reservation.
I do not read the holding in Montana v. United States to be to the contrary. The issue of inherent sovereignty, or not, is a fact-driven inquiry or, at least, a mixed question of fact and law, and the evidence in this case is significantly different than in Montana.
In Montana, there was a trial at which evidence was adduced by the State showing that Montana had, since 1928, “engaged in an extensive fish-stocking program throughout the waters of the Crow Indian Reservation,” United States v. Montana 457 F.Supp. 599, 605 (1978) and that the State had both stocked and introduced nonindigenous game birds and indigenous game animals on reservation lands and areas adjacent to the reservation. Id. There was also evidence that the Crow Tribe had taken only a mild interest in fishing and wildlife management and then only within about five years or less prior to the 1978 trial. Id. at 610. The passage of the Tribal resolution at issue in the litigation prohibiting all nonmembers (including presumably nonmember fee owners) from fishing or hunting within the boundaries of the reservation occurred in 1973. Id. This action was the first formal exercise of fish and wildlife jurisdiction in tribal history. Id. On the other hand, the Supreme Court observed that Montana had “traditionally exercised ‘near exclusive’ jurisdiction over hunting and fishing on fee lands within the reservation.” 450 U.S. at 564 n. 13, 101 S.Ct. at 1258 n. 13. The Supreme Court noted that under the facts of the Montana case there was no showing of a threat to the political or economic security of the Crow Nation, and there was not even an allegation in the complaint concerning impact upon the health and welfare of the Tribe. Id. at 566, 101 S.Ct. at 1259. Therefore, it is readily evident that even with the limited facts available in this matter through the cross motions for summary judgment, this is a radically different case than Montana.
If the Tribe were to purchase in fee simple absolute 10,000 acres of prime hunting and fishing land along the Missouri River outside of the reservation, I am confident that the State would seek to apply its sovereign power, and rightly so, to regulate hunting and fishing activities on such non-reservation property. If the Tribe sought to transfer its sovereignty to the property, the State would make all the same arguments that the Tribe makes in this case as to why such activity would affect the political integrity, the economic security, and the health and welfare of the people of South Dakota. Those arguments would be valid. Likewise, the Tribe’s well-used sovereign power over fishing and hunting on the Lower Brule Reservation lands should not be squeezed out by the State, whomever may hold title' to individual parcels of property in this part of Indian country.
Does the overlapping, checkerboard-style wildlife regulation scheme5 over the lands within the reservation suggested by South *1028Dakota threaten or have some direct effect on the political integrity, the economic security or the health and welfare of the Tribe? Applying the above examples, policies, and principles to this question, there can be little doubt that the answer is in the affirmative. And even if the proposition is ambiguous, it is up to South Dakota to rebut with clear and convincing evidence the presumption of tribal sovereignty, not vice versa.
Thus, I respectfully dissent from the holding of the court in part IV A.2. of the opinion.

. The court, like the district court, gives too little weight to the Tribe’s credible contention that “checkerboard” jurisdiction will impair the Tribe's integrity by creating confusion and discouraging use of the reservation. Supra, at 1024; 917 F.Supp. at 1448. To say that the Supreme Court has "authorized exactly this kind of ‘checkerboard’ jurisdiction” when the facts so indicate, supra, at 1024, does not mean that we are to simply ignore the effect of such a result on the Tribe in considering tribal sovereignty. Indeed in Brendale, the problems presented by inconsistent dual zoning regulations that frustrated tribal land management clearly informed the Court’s conclusion that the Yakima Nation retained regulatory authority on fee lands in a portion of the reservation. 492 U.S. at 442-44, 109 S.Ct. at 3014-15.