Richmond v. Wampanoag Tribal Court Cases

• Decision Date: 21 April 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2:06-CV-15BSJ.,2:06-CV-15BSJ.
• Citation: 431 F.Supp.2d 1159
• Parties: Curtis RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v. WAMPANOAG TRIBAL COURT CASES: Case: 2005-301-EFS; Case 2005-302-BOA; Case 2005-300-CB, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Utah

Page 1159

431 F.Supp.2d 1159

Curtis RICHMOND, Plaintiff, v. WAMPANOAG TRIBAL COURT CASES: Case: 2005-301-EFS; Case 2005-302-BOA; Case 2005-300-CB, Defendants.

No. 2:06-CV-15BSJ.

United States District Court, D. Utah, Central Division.

April 21, 2006.

Curtis Richmond, Solana Beach, CA, pro se.

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

JENKINS, Senior District Judge.

The above-captioned proceeding is now before the court on Curtis Richmond's motion to amend his pleadings following this court's dismissal of his original petition for a writ of mandamus. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 15(a).

Procedural History

Plaintiff Curtis Richmond commenced the above-captioned action by filing a document captioned as a "Writ of Mandamus Confirming Pembina Nation Little Shell Calif. Federal Tribal Circuit Court Ordered Writ of Mandamus so Law Enforcement Must Obey Lawful Tribal Court Orders Supported by U.S. Supreme Court Rulings," on January 5, 2006 (dkt. no. 1). But Richmond did not name any federal government officer or other person, officer, corporation, or inferior court as a respondent to his petition and against whom relief in the nature of mandamus would lie.

Because this court was not satisfied that Richmond had properly invoked the subject matter jurisdiction of this court in commencing this action without naming a respondent, it dismissed his petition for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(h)(3) ("[w]henever it appears by suggestion of the parties or otherwise that the court lacks jurisdiction of the subject matter, the court shall dismiss the action."). (See Order of Dismissal, filed February 23, 2006 (dkt. no. 6).)

On March 6, 2006, Richmond filed an amended petition for a writ of mandamus (dkt. no. 7). The court struck that pleading because of Richmond's failure to obtain leave of court to amend his pleadings. (See Order, filed March 7, 2006 (dkt. no. 9).)

On March 14, 2006, Richmond filed a "Motion for Leave of Court to Amend Writ of Mandamus to Conform with Subject Matter Jurisdiction Issues Covered in Court Order to Dismiss Without Prejudice" (dkt. no. 11) ("Mot. To Amend"), followed by an "Addendum or Supplement to Plaintiffs Motion for Leave to Amend," & etc., filed March 30, 2006 (dkt. no. 12) ("Addendum"). Richmond has submitted additional papers as well.

Richmond's proposed amended writ petition names several federal officers as respondents: the Attorney General of the United States, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California United States Marshal David McAllister, and "F.B.I. Agent Mario Ruiz." It appears to seek relief in the nature of a writ of mandamus compelling the respondents to "Obey their Oath of Office to Support and Defend the U.S. Constitution," including "Obeying Judge Henry Lee Norman Anderson's Writ of Mandamus." (Mot. to Amend at 3.) In Richmond's view, "This Court has a Duty and Obligation to Confirm Judge Anderson's Lawful and Enforceable Writ of Mandamus." (Id. at 3-4.)

The referenced "Writ of Mandamus" appears to be captioned in the "Pembina Nation Little Shell California Federal Tribal Circuit Court" and purports to address "three major legal issues," including "Sovereignty of Indian Tribes" and whether "Non Indians must obey Indian Court Orders," whether "All Lawful Judges must have Judicial Oaths on File," and "Malfeasance of a Judicial Oath occurs if a Judge does not Obey his Judicial Oath." ("Writ of Mandamus," dated December 20, 2005, a copy of which in annexed to Mot. to Amend.) It appears to confirm that "judgments of `courts of common justice' are valid, real, and enforceable," apparently referring to orders of the "Supreme Court Wampanoag Tribe of Grayhead Wolf Band" directed to two state superior court and federal district judges in California concerning pending litigation involving Richmond. Those orders purport to dismiss the cases pending against Richmond in the California state and federal courts (and Third District Court in the State of Utah) for lack of jurisdiction, ostensibly on the theory that "[t]he Supreme Court of Wampanoag Tribe of Greyhead Wolf Band has Jurisdiction over all Tribal Members" — including Richmond as an "adopted" member — and that those courts have shown "Bias towards the Plaintiff" and have violated "the Plaintiff's Constitutional Right of Due Process."¹

Richmond's Theory of the Case

To date, Richmond has submitted at least a dozen papers in this case, proffering numerous quotations extracted from judicial opinions — often Nineteenth-Century Supreme Court cases published in the earlier volumes of the United States Reports — as well as law dictionaries, encyclopedias, and federal and state code provisions. The quotations speak to various aspects of Indian tribal status, the jurisdiction of state and federal courts, and the rule of law. Richmond weaves the selected quotations into a rambling and circuitous dissertation, rich in sweeping abstractions phrased in oft-capitalized and abstruse legalistic prose.

As best the court can glean from the papers now in the file, Richmond contends that federal law principles of Indian tribal sovereignty² empower the "Supreme Court of Wampanoag Tribe of Greyhead Wolf Band" to enter orders preempting the exercise of civil jurisdiction by state and federal courts over, his person and property in cases already commenced in those courts by Citibank, Bank of America, and others, and that it may do so in favor of compulsory adjudication of those parties' claims in the tribal forum. The "Supreme Court of Wampanoag Tribe of Greyhead Wolf Band" having issued such orders, and the "Pembina Nation Little Shell California Federal Tribal Circuit Court" having issued a December 20, 2005 writ confirming that the former court's orders are "valid, real, and enforceable," Richmond further contends that the named federal officers are duty-bound to "enforce" those orders, including `bench warrants" and awards of sanctions of $1,000 per day as against each of the defendants named in the tribal proceedings because "[t]he defendants must know that Tribal members have absolute sovereign authority" — and, it seems, absolute immunity from the civil jurisdiction of state and federal courts. Failing this, the respondents would "stand convicted of treason for failure to honor and enforce the spirit and letter of law."³

Richmond further asserts that this court may — indeed, must — grant relief in the nature of a writ of mandamus requiring the Attorney General of the United States, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, and various federal law enforcement officers to do the bidding of the "Supreme Court' of Wampanoag Tribe of Greyhead Wolf Band" and carry that tribunal's orders into full force and effect, as well as vacating any orders or judgments entered by the state and federal courts in the subject proceedings since the tribal orders were issued.

The Enforcement of Orders of Indian Tribal Courts

Richmond's proposed pleading seeks an order of this court decreeing the enforcement of orders issued by the "Supreme Court of Wampanoag Tribe of Greyhead Wolf Band," and in doing so, he raises the threshold question whether that tribunal possessed the requisite subject matter and personal jurisdiction to make those orders:

We are unwilling to enforce judgments of tribal courts acting beyond their authority, especially where defendants have a federal right "to be protected against an unlawful exercise of Tribal Court judicial power," Nat'l Farmers, 471 U.S. at 851, 105 S.Ct. 2447, 85 L.Ed.2d 818; see Wilson, 127 F.3d at 810 (holding that "federal courts must neither recognize nor enforce tribal judgments if: (1) the tribal court did not have both personal and subject matter jurisdiction; or (2) the defendant was not afforded due process of law").

MacArthur v. San Juan County, 309 F.3d 1216, 1225 (10th Cir.2002) (quoting Wilson v. Marchington, 127 F.3d 805, 810 (9th Cir.1997)), cert. denied, 539 U.S. 902, 123 S.Ct. 2246, 156 L.Ed.2d 110 (2003). In MacArthur, the court of appeals explained, "The threshold question in our review of the Navajo court judgment is whether the Navajo Nation's decision to exercise adjudicative power over [the non-member defendants] passes muster under Montana," the leading Supreme Court precedent governing the exercise of tribal civil jurisdiction over non-members. Id. at 1226 (citing Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 101 S.Ct. 1245, 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981)).

That jurisdictional question in turn is footed upon an even more fundamental premise: the actual existence of the Indian tribe whose authority the tribal courts purport to exercise, and federal recognition of tribal existence.

Indian Tribal Sovereignty & Federal Recognition of Indian Tribes

Normally, in cases involving tribal court jurisdiction, there is no genuine doubt as to the existence and legal status of the Indian tribe whose powers of self-government are being exercised through the instrumentality of its courts.

Historically, the federal government has determined that certain groups of Indians will be recognized as tribes for various purposes. Such determinations are incident to the Indian Commerce Clause of the Constitution, which expressly grants Congress power "[t]o regulate Commerce ... with the Indian tribes."

When Congress or the Executive has found that a tribe exists, courts will not normally disturb such a determination....

Felix S. Cohen's Handbook of Federal Indian Law 3 (Rennard Strickland, et al., eds. 1982) ("Handbook (1982 ed.)") (footnote omitted). "For most current purposes, judicial deference to findings of tribal existence is still mandated by the extensive nature of congressional power in the field. Congress has implicitly recognized the existence of most tribes through treaties, statutes, and ratified agreements." Id. at 3-4 (footnote omitted). In...