Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe v. Cnty. of Mille Lacs, Case No. 17-cv-05155 (SRN/LIB)
| Docket Number | Case No. 17-cv-05155 (SRN/LIB) |
| Decision Date | 04 March 2022 |
| Citation | 589 F.Supp.3d 1042 |
| Parties | MILLE LACS BAND OF OJIBWE, a federally recognized Indian Tribe; Sara Rice, in her official capacity as the Mille Lacs Band Chief of Police; and Derrick Naumann, in his official capacity as Sergeant of the Mille Lacs Police Department, Plaintiffs, v. COUNTY OF MILLE LACS, MINNESOTA; Joseph Walsh, individually and in his official capacity as County Attorney for Mille Lacs County; and Donald J. Lorge, individually and in his official capacity as Sheriff of Mille Lacs County, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota |
Anna Brady, Beth Ann Baldwin, Marc D. Slonim, and Wyatt Golding, Ziontz Chestnut, 2101 Fourth Avenue, Suite 1230, Seattle, WA 98121; and Arielle Wagner, Charles N. Nauen, and David J. Zoll, Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P., 100 Washington Avenue South, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55401, for Plaintiffs.
Brett D. Kelley, Kelley, Wolter & Scott, P.A., 431 South Seventh Street, Suite 2530, Minneapolis, MN 55415; Courtney E. Carter and Randy V. Thompson, Nolan Thompson Leighton & Tataryn PLC, 1011 First Street South, Suite 410, Hopkins, MN 55343; and Scott M. Flaherty and Scott G. Knudson, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, 80 South Eighth Street, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Defendant County of Mille Lacs, Minnesota.
Scott M. Flaherty and Scott G. Knudson, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, 80 South Eighth Street, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Defendant Joseph Walsh.
Brett D. Kelley, Douglas A. Kelley, Stacy Lynn Bettison, and Steven E. Wolter, Kelley, Wolter & Scott, P.A., 431 South Seventh Street, Suite 2530, Minneapolis, MN 55415; and Scott M. Flaherty and Scott G. Knudson, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, 80 South Eighth Street, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Defendant Donald J. Lorge.
This matter is before the Court on Cross-Motions for Partial Summary Judgment [Doc. Nos. 223 & 239] filed by the parties. Based on a review of the files, submissions, and proceedings herein, and for the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion and DENIES Defendants’ motion.
Plaintiffs are the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Mille Lacs Band Chief of Police Sara Rice, and Mille Lacs Band Sergeant Derrick Naumann (collectively, "the Band"). The Band brought suit against the County of Mille Lacs, Mille Lacs County Attorney Joseph Walsh, and Mille Lacs County Sheriff Donald Lorge (collectively, "the County") seeking declaratory and injunctive relief regarding the Band's law enforcement authority within the Mille Lacs Reservation. (See generally Compl. [Doc. No. 1].)
An integral part of the parties’ dispute, and the issue now presented to the Court on the parties’ Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment, is whether the Mille Lacs Reservation has been disestablished or diminished by Congress. In order to resolve this important issue, the Court must interpret a series of treaties and Acts of Congress dating back to the nineteenth century. The following recitation of the record, which is largely undisputed, begins with the 1855 treaty establishing the Mille Lacs Reservation. The Court then examines the 1863, 1864, and 1867 treaties, which the County contends resulted in the disestablishment of the reservation. Next, the Court explores the treatment of the Mille Lacs Reservation between the Treaty of 1867 and the Nelson Act of 1889, the provisions and history of the Nelson Act, and the Band's written agreement to the Nelson Act (the "Nelson Act Agreement"). The Court concludes by examining the reservation's history following the Nelson Act, including its treatment by Congress, federal officials, and the courts.
The Mille Lacs Reservation was established by the 1855 Treaty with the Chippewa, as one of six tracts of land "reserved and set apart ... for the permanent homes" of the Mille Lacs and other Mississippi Chippewa bands party to the treaty. Treaty with the Chippewa art. 2, Feb. 22, 1855, 10 Stat. 1165 (hereinafter "Treaty of 1855"). The Treaty of 1855 set aside more than 61,000 acres along Lake Mille Lacs for the Mille Lacs Band. See id. The treaty also established additional reservations for the Mississippi Chippewa at Gull Lake, Pokegama Lake, Rabbit Lake, Rice Lake, and Sandy Lake. Id. In addition, the treaty established reservations for the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands at Cass Lake, Leech Lake, and Lake Winnibigoshish. Id. Under the Treaty of 1855, the Mille Lacs Band and other Indian signatories gave up their aboriginal territory and agreed to "cede, sell, and convey to the United States all their right, title, and interest in, and to, the lands now owned and claimed by them, in the Territory of Minnesota." Treaty of 1855 art. 1.
Following increased tension between Minnesota's Indian tribes and white settlers, Minnesota's Dakota Sioux began an uprising in 1862, leading to the deaths of several hundred settlers over the course of six weeks. (Decl. of Courtney Carter ("Carter Decl.") [Doc. No. 242], Ex. 5 ("Rife Rep."), at 181 .) During the Dakota uprising, Chief Hole-in-the-Day (the Younger) of the Gull Lake Band of Chippewa—a signatory of the 1855 Treaty—gathered warriors to launch his own campaign against white settlers. (Id. at 19.) When the Mille Lacs Band learned that Chief Hole-in-the-Day planned to attack the garrison, refugees, and government officials at Fort Ripley, the Band's chiefs refused to participate in Hole-in-the-Day's uprising and sent their own warriors to protect the fort and nearby settlements. (Id. at 21-22; Decl. of James McClurken ("McClurken Decl.") [Doc. No. 235], Ex. A ("McClurken Rep."), at 42.) Hole-in-the-Day's attack was averted, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs William P. Dole—who had been at Fort Ripley—praised the Mille Lacs Band's actions as going "far in enabling us to finally effect a settlement of the Chippewa difficulties without resort to arms." (Rife Rep. at 22.)
Following Hole-in-the-Day's brief uprising and the conclusion of the far bloodier Dakota uprising, the United States sought to remove the Mississippi bands to a reservation near Leech Lake. Through negotiations at Crow Wing in the winter of 1862–1863, representatives of the United States sought to convince the Mille Lacs Band to cede the reservation established under the Treaty of 1855. (McClurken Rep. at 44-48.) Despite the danger to the Band posed by nearby settlers, who were unhappy with the Lincoln Administration's resolution of the Dakota uprising, Mille Lacs Chief Shaboshkung—a signatory of the 1855 Treaty—"scuttled any discussion about the potential cession of the 1855 Mille Lacs Reservation and the Band's removal to Leech Lake," and the Mississippi bands sought instead to negotiate directly with the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. (Id. at 46-48; Rife Rep. at 26-27.) The Band's opposition to removal from their reservation was fueled by their belief that Commissioner Dole had promised them that, due to their aid during Hole-in-the-Day's uprising, they would not be forced to leave the Mille Lacs Reservation.2 Prior to departing for Washington, D.C., the Ojibwe delegates met in St. Paul to strategize. In order to preserve the Mille Lacs Reservation, the delegates proposed ceding several bands’ reservations on the condition that the ceding bands would be permitted to relocate to Mille Lacs. (McClurken Rep. at 48-49.)
Negotiations commenced in Washington, D.C. in February 1863. Representatives from all six Ojibwe bands were present, with Shaboshkung leading the Mille Lacs delegation. (Rife Rep. at 28.) Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher and Commissioner Dole represented the United States. (Id. )
During the negotiations, Secretary Usher attempted to persuade the Mille Lacs to leave their reservation, arguing that removing to Leech Lake would offer a reprieve from flooding caused by lumbermen damming the Rum River and from interference by settlers. (McClurken Rep. at 51-52.) Usher also expressed the concern that Minnesotans had settled at Lake Mille Lacs, and that concentrating the bands there—as the delegates had discussed in St. Paul—would result in conflict. (Id. ) Shaboshkung and the representative of the Leech Lake Band countered that the proposed reservation near Leech Lake lacked sufficient arable land for all the bands; and Shaboshkung disputed Usher's claim of white settlement at Mille Lacs. (Id. at 53-54.) Consistent with the delegates’ discussion in St. Paul, Shaboshkung proposed enlarging the Mille Lacs Reservation and removing the Gull Lake, Rabbit Lake, Sandy Lake, Pokegama, and Rice Lake Bands to Mille Lacs. (Id. at 53.)
But Commissioner Dole expressed the concern...
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