On Monday, November 24th, 2013, a federal judge in Minneapolis affirmed Ojibwe fishing rights as protected under the 1837 treaty. Five Ojibwe men were charged last year in a major fish poaching case, and the decision Monday by Judge John Tunheim directly contradicts a ruling earlier this year by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle. A contradiction like this is very rare, and will take the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals well into 2014 to sort out. Its very rare that a split decision like this would come about, and indicates the general contradictory and confused atmosphere relating to federal Indian Law in the United States, where the treaties are legally binding, but unevenly abided by or applied. According to the Star Tribune, Lawyers Robert Richman and Shannon Elkins wrote: “There is now not only a split of authority in this district, there is a split of authority in what is, for all practical purposes, a single prosecution. “We now have the unseemly situation of 5 Indian defendants having had their cases dismissed for violation of treaty rights and two other defendants who enjoy the protection of the exact same treaties awaiting trial for the exact same conduct. This situation cannot help but discredit the court in the eyes of the public.” Further Reading: startribune/local/233328371.html Further Listening: https://soundcloud/honortheearth/maawaadisidaa-lets-visit-on
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 15:48:43 +0000
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