Court Opinion

ID: 8897086
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-27 00:15:31.766287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:07:34.081012
License: Public Domain

BURNS, District Judge
(concurring):
I concur, but I want to add a brief comment from the viewpoint of a district judge. As was suggested at oral argument, any decision by us to affirm also involves ratification of the role of the district judge as a “perpetual fish-master.” Although I recognize that district judges cannot escape their constitutional responsibilities, however unusual and continuing duties imposed upon them, I deplore situations that make it necessary for us to become enduring managers of the fisheries, forests, and highways, to say nothing of school districts, police departments, and so on. The record in this case, and the history set forth in the Puyallup and Antoine cases, among others, make it crystal clear that it has been recalcitrance of Washington State officials (and their vocal non-Indian commercial and sports fishing allies) which produced the denial of Indian rights requiring intervention by the district court. This responsibility should neither escape notice nor be forgotten.