Rolling Cloud v. Gill, Civ. No. H-75-65.
| Decision Date | 29 April 1976 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. H-75-65. |
| Citation | 412 F. Supp. 1085 |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
| Parties | ROLLING CLOUD, a/k/a John Hamilton, and Wounded Wolf, a/k/a Rowland Bishop, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, Plaintiffs, Necia W. Hopkins, Intervenor, v. Joseph N. GILL, as Commissioner of Environmental Protection of the State of Connecticut, et al., Defendants, Virginia Damon et al., Intervenors. |
Jerome M. Griner, Hartford, Conn., for plaintiffs and intervening plaintiff Hopkins.
Donald M. Longley and Brian E. O'Neill, Asst. Attys. Gen., Hartford, Conn., (Carl R. Ajello, Atty. Gen. of Conn., Hartford, Conn. of counsel), for defendants.
William R. Breetz, Hartford, Conn., and David C. Crosby, Thomas N. Tureen and Barry A. Margolin, Calais, Maine, for intervenors Damon, et al.
Before SMITH, Circuit Judge, and CLARIE and BLUMENFELD, District Judges.
Plaintiffs in the instant action seek to overturn Connecticut's recently adopted statutory scheme for the conduct of the state's Indian-related activities, Conn.Gen. Stat.Ann. § 47-59a et seq. (Chapter 824). In particular, plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201, 2202 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 on the ground that this state legislation deprives them of several constitutionally-secured rights, including rights premised on the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the Constitution as well as rights based on the prohibition against bills of attainder contained in article I, § 10 of the Federal Constitution.
The immediate issues before this three-judge district court are (1) defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing and (2) defendants' motion for summary judgment.
For the reasons outlined below, we grant the motion to dismiss for lack of standing with respect to original plaintiffs Rolling Cloud and Wounded Wolf. Those plaintiffs have failed to allege personal injury-in-fact and, accordingly, they lack standing to sue. However, with respect to plaintiff-intervenor Hopkins, who has already submitted to the administrative process established by the statute, we deny defendants' motion on the ground that plaintiff Hopkins does assert sufficient injury-in-fact to continue with this suit.
With respect to the motion for summary judgment, we abstain at the present time from deciding the substantive constitutional issues raised by the plaintiffs. We hold our proceedings in abeyance so that plaintiff-intervenor Hopkins may have an opportunity to present her state law claims before the courts of the State of Connecticut.
There are four sets of parties in this litigation at the present time. The original plaintiffs, Rolling Cloud, a/k/a John Hamilton, and Wounded Wolf, a/k/a Rowland Bishop, initially filed an action on behalf of themselves and a class designated as "all natural persons descended from the original red inhabitants and occupants of lands located now within the borders of the State of Connecticut." Named as an original defendant in this suit was Joseph Gill who, in his capacity as Environmental Protection Commissioner of the State of Connecticut, has responsibility for administering parts of the statutory scheme complained of here. Named as Gill's original co-defendants were the present members of the Connecticut Indian Affairs Council, appointed pursuant to Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59b.
When questions were raised as to the legal standing to sue of the original plaintiffs, Ms. Necia W. Hopkins, secretary of the New England Coastal Schaghticoke Indian Association, Inc., was permitted to plead as a plaintiff-intervenor. Ms. Hopkins, unlike the original plaintiffs, has applied for administrative certification of her Indian status under the statutory procedure complained of here and has had her claim rejected.
In addition to Ms. Hopkins' intervention, a group of Connecticut Indians seeking to uphold the challenged legislation has been admitted to the litigation as defendant-intervenors. Defendant-intervenors are represented by attorneys from the Indian Unit of Pine Tree Legal Assistance and the Native American Rights Fund, two groups which specialize in the type of litigation presented here.
The Connecticut statute presently governing Indian affairs was adopted by the General Assembly in 1973. See Conn.Gen. Stat.Ann. § 47-59a, et seq. (pocket supplement). This legislation, passed by the Assembly as P.A. 73-660, made several significant changes in the pre-existing scheme of Indian rights.
First, the statutory term "Indian" was explicitly defined to encompass only those individuals who are of at least one-eighth blood of "qualified Connecticut tribes." Five tribes (Mohegan, Golden Hill, Schaghticoke, Western Pequot and Eastern Pequot) are given this "qualified" status by the statute. In addition, the Indian Affairs Council, described in more detail immediately below, is given the authority to expand the list of "qualified" tribes to include additional groups. Indians who are not members of "qualified" tribes are not, for the purposes of Connecticut law, entitled to the rights or privileges afforded to "Indians." Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59a. While the Council may expand the definition of qualified tribes beyond its statutory scope, it may not narrow the definition to exclude tribes or individuals defined as "Indians" by the statute. Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §§ 47-63, 47-59b(b).
Second, the new statute establishes, for the first time, the Indian Affairs Council referred to above. Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59b(a). Prior to the creation of this Council, Indian activities in Connecticut were confided exclusively to the state Commissioner of Welfare. See 1961 P.A. 304, § 4, codified as Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59 (now repealed). The new Council consists of three gubernatorial appointees (who must be non-Indians) and one representative from each of the five "qualified" tribes recognized by the statute.
Three functions of the Council are of direct importance to this litigation.1 First, the Council, as mentioned above, has the authority to expand the list of "qualified" tribes entitled to the special protection of Connecticut law. Second, the Council is empowered to make administrative findings of fact to determine which particular individuals claiming Indian status meet the legal requirements and are in fact "Indians" for the purposes of Connecticut law.
In making such factual determinations, the Council must recognize Indian status for anyone who can prove his qualifications under the statutory definition (i. e., one-eighth Mohegan, Golden Hill, Schaghticoke, Western Pequot or Eastern Pequot blood) as well as anyone who falls within the supplemental standards adopted by the Council. Individuals who fail to receive the Council's administrative certification of their Indian status are prevented from using reservation lands which, as explained below, are set aside for the exclusive use of "qualified" Indians.
Third, the Council is empowered to decide "who is eligible to reside on Indian reservation lands" maintained by the State of Connecticut. Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59b(b). The Council's decisions are restricted by the requirement that, excepting non-Indian persons who resided lawfully on the reservations as of July 1, 1973, only "Indians" (as defined statutorily and administratively) are to reside on reservation lands. If, however, an Indian has a spouse or child who is non-Indian for the purposes of the Connecticut statute, the Indian's family is allowed to reside on the reservation with the Indian for the duration of the Indian's lifetime. Upon the death of said Indian, the non-Indian family must leave the reservation, receiving compensation from the state for any real property they may leave behind. Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-64(a).
The statute also contains a broadly-worded affirmation of Indian rights (as yet undefined) to these reservation lands. Conn. Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-59a.
In accordance with an apparent assumption that intermarriage will eventually lead to the dissolution of the Connecticut Indian community, the statute provides for the eventual "escheat" of reservation lands to the State of Connecticut. Conn.Gen.Stat. Ann. § 47-64(c).
Finally, the statute gives to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection the responsibility for the "care and management" of the reservations and the Indians who reside thereon. The Commissioner and the Council are to promulgate jointly such regulations "as are necessary to insure the general health, safety, and well-being" of Indians residing on reservation lands. Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-65. In addition, the Environmental Protection Commissioner is given authority to manage and expend tribal trust funds in accordance with the advice of the Indian Affairs Council. Conn. Gen.Stat.Ann. § 47-66.
In their complaint, original plaintiffs Rolling Cloud and Wounded Wolf assert that the statutory scheme outlined above violates four constitutional provisions: (1) the fourteenth amendment's equal protection clause, (2) the fourteenth amendment's due process clause, (3) the fifth amendment's prohibition of takings without just compensation and (4) the article I, § 10, clause 1 prohibition on bills of attainder.
The first of plaintiffs' fourteenth amendment claims asserts that the legislation complained of creates a constitutionally-suspect classification based on race, and thereby deprives plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws. Since the statute distinguishes between Indians (who receive benefits) and non-Indians (who do not), and since racial (i. e., tribal) lineage determines to which classification an individual belongs, plaintiffs assert that the statutory scheme makes an explicit distinction between Indians and non-Indians based on race.
Plaintiffs next assert a fourteenth amendment due...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Connecticut State Federation of Teachers v. Board of Educ. Members
...Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin, 323 U.S. 101, 105, 65 S.Ct. 152, 89 L.Ed. 101 (1944). See also Rolling Cloud, et al. v. Gill, et al., 412 F.Supp. 1085 (D.Conn., 1976). "Members of the teaching profession shall have the right to join or refuse to join any organization for professi......
-
Schaghticoke Indians of Kent, Connecticut, Inc. v. Potter
...the act substituted the commissioner of environmental protection in the place of the welfare commissioner. 10 See Rolling Cloud v. Gill, 412 F.Supp. 1085 (D.Conn.1976). Although Public Acts 1961, No. 304, was enacted in 1961, while Public Law 83-280 was still in effect, there are several re......
-
Matter of Bob Lee Beauty Supply Co., Inc.
...In re Continental Mortgage Investors, 465 F.Supp. 614 (D.Mass. 1979); Lasco v. Koch, 428 F.Supp. 468 (S.D.Ill. 1977); Rolling Cloud v. Gill, 412 F.Supp. 1085 (D.Conn.1976); In re Penn Central Transportation Co., 385 F.Supp. 612 (E.D.Penn.1974); In re Fotochrome, Inc., 346 F.Supp. 958 (E.D.N......
-
Hopkins v. Pac
...as a plaintiff in a civil action brought in the United States District Court for the district of Connecticut, Rolling Cloud v. Gill, 412 F.Supp. 1085 (D.Conn., 1976), wherein the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of §§ 47-59a through 47-66d on the ground, inter alia, that judicial......