Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. State of SD
Decision Date | 31 March 1989 |
Docket Number | Civ. No. 86-3019. |
Citation | 709 F. Supp. 1502 |
Parties | ROSEBUD SIOUX TRIBE, Plaintiff, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Plaintiffs/Intervenors, v. STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA, George S. Mickelson, Governor; Roger Tellinghuisen, Attorney General; Jim Jones, Superintendent of the Highway Patrol, In Their Official Capacities, Defendants. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of South Dakota |
Terry L. Pechota, Finch, Viken, Viken & Pechota, Rapid City, S.D., for plaintiff Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
Scott B. McElroy, Bruce R. Greene, Greene, Meyer & McElroy, P.C., Boulder, Colo., and Krista Clark, Dakota Legal Services, Mission, S.D., for plaintiff-intervenor Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
Marvin Amiotte, Pine Ridge, S.D., for plaintiff-intervenor Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Michael T. Swallow, Dakota Plains Legal Services, Mission, S.D., for plaintiff-intervenor Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
John P. Guhin, Harold H. Deering, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., Natural Resource Section, Pierre, S.D., for defendants.
On May 14, 1986, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe filed this action against defendants, the State of South Dakota and various state officials (hereinafter "the State" or "South Dakota") to seek declaratory and injunctive relief restraining South Dakota from exercising jurisdiction over Indians on highways within the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe invokes the jurisdiction of this Court under 28 U.S. C. §§ 1331, 1343(3) and (4), 1337, 1362 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This Court has permitted the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Oglala Sioux Tribe, and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to join as plaintiff-intervenors under Rule 24 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Based on an agreement filed by the parties to this case, this Court on November 19, 1987 ordered that the parties submit the case for decision on the merits by filing cross-motions for summary judgment. Having reviewed the lengthy original and supplemental briefing of the cross-motions for summary judgment and having carefully considered the issues, this Court denies the summary judgment motion filed by the tribal plaintiffs and grants summary judgment in favor of the State.
The essential facts in this case are not in dispute. The plaintiffs are federally recognized Indian tribes who sue as sovereign governmental entities and as parens patriae on behalf of tribal members. Each of the tribal plaintiffs presently patrols and enforces traffic laws on roads within their respective reservations. Each tribe has tribal courts, law enforcement officers and detention facilities. The tribes assert that with regard to offenses committed by Indians on roads within the reservations, the United States has exclusive jurisdiction over major crimes and the tribes have exclusive jurisdiction over other crimes.
Defendant South Dakota and its officials assert the authority to enforce state laws on all individuals on highways within the reservations. On several occasions, the State has arrested Indians on roads within Indian country for violating state laws.1 The tribes have brought this suit to contest state jurisdiction over Indians on roads within Indian reservations. To resolve the case, this Court must examine the unique and complex history of jurisdiction over Indians in South Dakota.
The Enabling Act passed by Congress to permit South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington to enter the Union required each state to disclaim jurisdiction in Indian country. Section 4 of the Enabling Act provided:
In accordance with the Enabling Act, South Dakota incorporated the jurisdictional disclaimer as a compact with the United States in Article XXII of the state constitution. Article XXII, which remains as a part of the current South Dakota Constitution, states:
We, the people inhabiting the state of South Dakota, do agree and declare that we forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundary of South Dakota, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States; and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States.
Under the 1889 Enabling Act, Article XXII of the South Dakota Constitution, and federal case law, South Dakota traditionally has exercised criminal or civil jurisdiction in Indian country only when Indians were not involved. See generally St. Cloud v. United States, 702 F.Supp. 1456, 1459-60 (D.S.D.1988) ( ); White v. Califano, 437 F.Supp. 543 (D.S.D.1977), aff'd, 581 F.2d 697 (8th Cir.1978) ( ); see generally Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 218-22, 79 S.Ct. 269, 269-72, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959).
In 1953, Congress saw fit to alter its compact with disclaimer states by passing legislation known as Public Law 280. Act of Aug. 15, 1953, 67 Stat. 588-590 ( ). Public Law 280 was passed during an era when Congress sought to diminish the federal trust responsibility to Indian tribes by terminating federal recognition of certain Indian tribes and encouraging assimilation of Indians into white society. Congress by passing Public Law 280 expressly ceded criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indian country to California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin.3 Public Law 280 gave all other states the option to assume civil and criminal jurisdiction in Indian country, even if the state had an organic law disclaimer of jurisdiction in Indian country as does South Dakota. The two sections of Public Law 280 that apply to South Dakota are sections six and seven,4 which as originally enacted, stated:
In 1957, the South Dakota legislature enacted Chapter 319 of the Session Laws of 1957 to assume jurisdiction over Indian country within South Dakota. The Act in section one purported to accept complete criminal and civil jurisdiction over Indian country within the State, but sections four and five of the Act conditioned the assumption of jurisdiction on tribal consent and approval by the Board of County Commissioners of any county containing Indian country.5 These conditions were not met, so this enactment never become operative. See In re Petition of High Pine, 78 S.D. 121, 129, 99 N.W.2d 38, 41 (1959).
In 1959, the South Dakota legislature passed a statute assuming jurisdiction over highways within Indian country built jointly by the state and federal governments.6 This section, codified at SDCL § 1-1-17, was short-lived, as legislation passed in 1961 repealed the 1959 legislation.
The state enactment most critical to a decision in this case came in 1961 when the South Dakota legislature passed chapter 464 of the Session Laws of 1961 hereinafter "1961 Act" or "1961 legislation". The 1961 legislation sought to authorize broad state jurisdiction over Indians, but only if the State could obtain funds from the federal government to defray the costs of law enforcement on reservations. During this era, South Dakota was reluctant to accept unqualified jurisdiction in Indian country primarily due to financial concerns.
The two most pertinent sections of the 1961 legislation provided:
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