Tulalip Member/Company Seek Mandamus to Bar Searches by Fish and Wildlife Officers

Here is the petition in Paul v. Gain (Wash. S. Ct.):

pet-writ-mandamus

An excerpt:

The novel twist in this case is the “gag order” in the Search Warrant. Because recipients of the Search Warrants risk violating a court order if they disclose the Search Warrants, their silence is secured. The Order sealing in perpetuity the Search Warrants Files guarantees that no public scrutiny can ever occur. The “gag-order” and the Order, in combination, create a Star Chamber within which law enforcement officers can operate without accountability, to the extreme detriment of their targets and the public, who may never know who invades their personal affairs, or why. This is particularly true here where Petitioners have already successfully sued the law enforcement agency to secure return of personal property seized via an earlier search warrant arising from the same investigation.

Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance v. Lohn — Puget Sound Salmon Management Plan

The Western District of Washington upheld this government/tribal resource management plan. From the opinion:

This case concerns a challenge to two decisions by National Marine Fisheries Service (“NMFS”) involving Puget Sound Chinook salmon: the approval of a resource management plan prepared by the Puget Sound Indian Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (“WDFW”), and the biological opinion issued by NMFS regarding the effects of its decision to approve the plan.

Slip op. at 1-2. Here are the materials:

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