Little Traverse Bay Bands Indians v. Whitmer
| Decision Date | 18 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 19-2070,19-2107,s. 19-2070 |
| Citation | 998 F.3d 269 |
| Parties | LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BANDS OF ODAWA INDIANS, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Gretchen WHITMER, Governor of the State of Michigan, Defendant-Appellee, City of Petoskey, Michigan; City of Harbor Springs, Michigan; Emmet County, Michigan ; Charlevoix County, Michigan, Intervenors Appellees/Cross-Appellants, Township of Bear Creek; Township of Bliss; Township of Center; Township of Cross Village; Township of Friendship; Township of Little Traverse; Township of Pleasantview; Township of Readmond; Township of Resort; Township of West Traverse; Emmet County Lake Shore Association; The Protection of Rights Alliance; City of Charlevoix, Michigan; Township of Charlevoix, Intervenors-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
ARGUED: David A. Giampetroni, KANJI & KATZEN, P.L.L.C., Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Jaclyn Shoshana Levine, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Gretchen Whitmer. Jeffrey C. Gerish, PLUNKETT COONEY, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for City of Petoskey, City of Harbor Springs, Emmet County and Charlevoix County. R. Lance Boldrey, DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC, Lansing, Michigan, for Appellees Emmet County Lake Shore Association and Protection of Rights Alliance. ON BRIEF: David A. Giampetroni, Riyaz A. Kanji, KANJI & KATZEN, P.L.L.C., Ann Arbor, Michigan, James A. Bransky, LITTLE TRAVERSE BAY BANDS OF ODAWA INDIANS, Traverse City, Michigan, for Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Jaclyn Shoshana Levine, Kelly M. Drake, Laura R. LaMore, OFFICE OF THE MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL, Lansing, Michigan, for Gretchen Whitmer. Jeffrey C. Gerish, PLUNKETT COONEY, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for City of Petoskey, City of Harbor Springs, Emmet County and Charlevoix County. R. Lance Boldrey, Jill M. Wheaton, Erin A. Sedmak, DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC, Lansing, Michigan, for Emmet County Lake Shore Association and Protection of Rights Alliance. Thaddeus E. Morgan, FRASER TREBILCOCK DAVIS & DUNLAP, P.C., Lansing, Michigan, for Township of Bear Creek, Township of Bliss, Township of Center, Township of Cross Village, Township of Friendship, Township of Little Traverse, Township of Pleasantview, Township of Readmond, Township of Resort, and Township of West Traverse.
Before: BATCHELDER, CLAY, and BUSH, Circuit Judges.
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (the "Band") appeal the district court's decision granting summary judgment to Defendant Governor Gretchen Whitmer, in which the court held that the Treaty of 1855 did not create an Indian reservation for the Band under federal law. The Band has lived in the State of Michigan for centuries. While often referred to as one tribe, the Band consists of several distinct factions, including at least five Ottawa and Chippewa tribes. In the nineteenth century, the Band signed several treaty agreements with the United States government that allowed them to reserve and subsequently own land in Michigan. The meaning of one of those treaty agreements is in dispute here on appeal. For the reasons stated below, this court AFFIRMS the district court.
Prior to the colonization of the Americas, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians inhabited for centuries what is now considered northern Michigan. At the turn of the nineteenth century, with the population growing within the United States, more white Americans began to settle in territories like Michigan where the Band resided. As a result, the federal government took tribal land for its settlers and removed tribes, like the Band, to Indian settlements in the West, where they could supposedly be assimilated into American society as citizens. For years, officials in the federal Department of Indian Affairs considered when and how to move tribes westward. Despite federal intentions to move tribes west, the Band in northern Michigan was determined to stay in their home territory. For example, tribal leaders expressed how "[t]he soul shrink with horror at the idea of rejecting our country forever." (ECF No. 559-14 at PageID # 8088.) They intended to "make arrangements with the government for remaining in the Territory of Michigan in the quiet possession of our lands, and to transmit the same safely to our posterity" and would "submit ourselves to the Laws of that country within whose lands we reside." (Id. at PageID # 8087–088.)
In the summer of 1835, the Band contacted President Andrew Jackson to ask whether they could sell some of their land, and in return, stay in Michigan. President Jackson had not considered purchasing the land at first but inquired as to the amount for which the Band would sell the land. Jackson delegated the negotiations to Michigan representatives, who instructed the Band not to travel to Washington unless requested. Despite that message, and fearful that the United States would remove them by force, tribal members arrived in Washington in December 1835, looking to negotiate. It appears, however, that no federal official met with the Band, and instead, the Band's wishes were communicated through letter.
Following the letter in 1835, the federal government agreed to purchase some of the Band's land and allow them to stay in Michigan temporarily. In 1836, Secretary of War Lewis Cass appointed Henry Schoolcraft, Acting Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Michigan Territory, to be the federal government's primary negotiator with the Band and to encourage them to move westward after selling their land. In March of 1836, Cass wrote Schoolcraft that he should "procure the land upon proper and reasonable terms for the United States" and "extinguish the Indian titles as our settlements advance so as to keep the Indians beyond our borders." (ECF No. 559-15 at PageID # 8096.)
In March of 1836, the Band traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with federal officials, including Schoolcraft. On March 15, 1836, Schoolcraft started the negotiations by agreeing to negotiate with delegates of every tribe within the Band. He then asked each tribal leader how much of their land they wanted to sell. To facilitate the agreement, he also proposed that the federal government would pay any debts the Band had to traders in Michigan and distribute annual annuities over twenty years for education, agriculture, and medicine. Notably, Schoolcraft informed the Band that the President believed "[n]o objection will be made, if you deem it imperative, to your fixing on proper and limited reservations to be held in common; but the President judges it best, that no reservations should be made to individuals." (ECF No. 558-4 at PageID # 6870.)
As the negotiations proceeded, different tribes within the Band, primarily the Chippewas and the Ottawas, differed over how the land should be sold. One tribal leader expressed "fear that the whites, who will not be our friends, will come into our country and trouble us and that we shall not be able to know where our possessions are." (Id. at PageID # 6871.) The leader hoped that "some of our white friends [would] have lands among us and be associated with us" to ease tensions between the races. (Id. ) Later in the negotiation, an Ottawa chief said he would refuse to sell their land after seeing how small the Band's reservation would be. (Id. at PageID # 6872.) As others spoke, a delegate from the tribe Labre Croche said he believed that white settlers had pressured the Band into selling their land, and that without this pressure, none of the tribes would agree to sell. In response, Schoolcraft stated that he understood the varying opinions among the different tribes and would agree to purchase land from those who were willing, but he hoped the different tribes could come to a uniform agreement. Schoolcraft proposed a reservation of 100,000 acres to the Band, and by the last day of negotiations on March 28, 1836, the Band decided to agree to Schoolcraft's terms. With negotiations completed, the tribes ceded almost 14 million acres of land to the United States. A third of the ceded land was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, while the remaining two-thirds were located in the Lower Peninsula, and in total, the land equated to one-third of present-day Michigan. In return, the Treaty promised a temporary reservation for the Band in Little Traverse Bay, Michigan, and thereafter, land west of the Mississippi in case the Band decided to move westward. Before the treaty was ratified, the United States Senate added a provision that the reservation would only last "for the term of five years," which the Band reluctantly accepted. (ECF No. 558-2 at PageID # 6831.) In return, the federal government promised the Band $200,000 for "whenever their reservations shall be surrendered." (Id. )
Article 1 of the Treaty provides that the Ottawa and Chippewa nations would cede land to the United States located in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula. In Article 2, the Band would reserve land "for their own use, to be held in common," including 50,000 acres on Little Traverse Bay, 20,000 acres on the north shore of Grand Traverse Bay, 70,000 acres on or north of the Pieire Marquetta river, 1,000 acres located by Chingassanoo, or the Big Sail, on Cheboigan, and 1,000 acres located by Mujeekewis on Thunderbay River. (Id. ) Alongside that provision, Article 3 outlined other settlements where the Band could locate under the agreement, including several islands in northern Michigan. And as agreed, Articles 4 and 5 required the United States to provide annuities for 20 years to assist the Band in education, agriculture, and medicine and to settle debts the tribes had with traders in their area. Other provisions provided land west of the Mississippi River in case the Band decided to relocate, supported...
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