John LaVelle, Michalyn Steele, Colette Routel, and Monte Mills
treaty rights
Colville Member Prevails in B.C.’s High Court on Right to Hunt in Canada
Here’s a news article. Mr. Desautel prevailed as a descendant of the Sinixt Tribe. Decision is here.
Michigan Tribal Response to Michigan’s Line 5 Deeply Flawed Report
Quileute & Quinault response to request for rehearing/rehearing en banc in ocean U&A case
Here is Quileute & Quinault’s response, addressing issues such as whether the Stevens treaties must be read together, the meaning of “fish” and whether U&As are species-specific, the proper use of the canons of construction, and what we know of the treaty negotiations at issue here.
Previous coverage here.
Ninth Circuit Rules in Favor of Lummi over Klallam Tribes in U&A Litigation
Here is the opinion in Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe v. Lummi Nation.
From the syllabus:
The panel reversed the district court’s summary judgment in favor of the Lower Elwha Klallam Indian Tribe, and held that the disputed waters west of Whidbey Island, Washington were included in the Lummi Nation’s right of taking fish at usual and accustomed grounds and stations (“U & A”) under the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliot.
In United States v. Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. Wash. 1974), Judge Boldt developed a framework for determining U & As for Indian signatories to the Treaty. In Finding of Fact 46, Judge Boldt stated that the U & A for the Lummi Indians “included the marine areas of Northern Puget Sound from the Fraser River south to the present
environs of Seattle.”To determine whether the waters west of Whidbey Island were included in the Lummi’s U & A, the panel followed a two-step procedure. At step one, the panel held that Fact 46 was ambiguous because it did not clearly include or exclude the disputed waters. At step two, the panel examined the record before Judge Boldt to clarify his intent, and concluded that the district court erred in excluding the disputed waters
from the Lummi’s U & A. The panel held that the district court improperly imposed a heightened standard in holding that logic or linguistics needed to “compel the conclusion” that contested waters be included in a U & A.
Briefs here.
Cert Opp Briefs in Culverts Case
U.S. brief in opposition to cert. in Culverts case
Here.
Cert Stage Briefs in Herrera v. Wyoming
2017-10-05 Herrera Cert Petition
Question presented:
Whether Wyoming’s admission to the Union or the establishment of the Bighorn National Forest abrogated the Crow Tribe of Indians’ 1868 federal treaty right to hunt on the “unoccupied lands of the United States,” thereby permitting the present-day criminal conviction of a Crow member who engaged in subsistence hunting for his family.
Additional briefs:
17-532 Amici Brief Indian Law Professors
Wyoming opposition to Herrera petition
Turtle Talk 
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