State of Minnesota v. United States

• Decision Date: 11 February 1942
• Docket Number: No. 12094.,12094.
• Citation: 125 F.2d 636
• Parties: STATE OF MINNESOTA v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

125 F.2d 636 (1942)

STATE OF MINNESOTA v. UNITED STATES.

No. 12094.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

February 11, 1942.

V. J. Michaelson, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen. of Minnesota (J. A. A. Burnquist, Atty. Gen. of Minnesota, Chester S. Wilson, Deputy Atty. Gen. of Minnesota, and Mandt Torrison, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen. for the Department of Conservation of Minnesota, on the brief), for appellant.

W. Robert Koerner and Philip Nichols, Jr., Attys., Department of Justice, both of Washington, D. C. (Norman M. Littell, Asst. Atty. Gen. of the United States, C. U. Landrum, Sp. Asst. to U. S. Atty., of Detroit Lakes, Minn., and C. R. Denny, Atty., Department of Justice, of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for appellee.

Before GARDNER, SANBORN, and WOODROUGH, Circuit Judges.

SANBORN, Circuit Judge.

This case involves the right of the United States to acquire, by a condemnation proceeding brought in the court below, lands belonging to the State of Minnesota which are devoted by the State to a public use.

A detailed statement of the factual situation, of the issues involved, and of the history of the litigation, together with a full discussion of the controlling questions of law, is contained in an opinion of the trial court reported in United States v. 4,450.72 Acres of Land, Clearwater County, State of Minnesota, D. C., 27 F.Supp. 167. In view of the completeness of that opinion, we shall as briefly as possible outline the facts, the questions presented and the applicable law, and state our conclusions.

Congress by the Act of June 23, 1926, 44 Stat. 763, as amended by the Act of July 24, 1935, 49 Stat. 496, provided for the creation of the "Wild Rice Lake Indian Reserve" out of an area in Clearwater County, Minnesota, consisting of Rice Lake and some 4,500 acres of contiguous land. The primary purpose was that of "conserving wild rice beds for the exclusive use and benefit of the Chippewa Indians of Minnesota." The Secretary of the Interior was authorized to acquire, by condemnation or otherwise, "lands within said reserved area now held in public, private, State, or Indian ownership."

On September 15, 1937, the United States brought this proceeding to condemn the various tracts of land included in the reserved area. The State, which in 1934 had acquired ownership or control of the area and of other lands for use as a conservation project for reforestation, game propagation and protection, and for public shooting grounds, subject to the exclusive right granted by the State to the Chippewa Indians to harvest wild rice on Rice Lake (see Mason's Minnesota Statutes, 1940 Suppl. §§ 6131-1 to 6131-21), filed objections to the petition of the United States for condemnation. In substance, the objections of the State were: that the Acts of June 23, 1926, and July 24, 1935, authorizing the condemnation of the area, were invalid because they were not in furtherance of any constitutional power delegated to the United States and that the taking authorized was not for a public use and not for a superior public use; that it would interfere with the sovereign rights of the State; and that the proceeding was not within the jurisdiction of the court.

The court, after a hearing and after taking testimony as to the character of the area and the uses to which the State had devoted it, overruled the objections, granted the petition, and appointed Commissioners to assess compensation. The Commissioners reported their awards, and the State and other affected property owners appealed therefrom. A trial was had before the court and a jury on the issues of compensation. In its verdict the jury made an award of compensation for each tract of land involved. The State owned at least nineteen tracts. It moved for a new trial with respect to only thirteen of them. The court denied its motion, and entered judgment on the verdict, ordering that, upon payment of the awards, title to the tracts vest in the United States. The State appealed from the judgment, but only with respect to the thirteen tracts referred to in its motion for a new trial, thereby permitting the awards for the other tracts owned by the State to stand unchallenged.

In its statement of points relied upon, the State seeks to challenge: (1) The jurisdiction of the court; (2) the order granting condemnation; (3) the order denying a new trial; (4) "rulings of the court occurring during the trial;" (5) the verdict of the jury, which it asserts is "contrary to law" and "contrary to and unsupported by the evidence;" (6) and the judgment. The points other than those relating to jurisdiction and to the order granting condemnation, present nothing for review and will be disregarded.¹

The United States contends that the question of the validity of the order granting condemnation can not properly be considered, since the State has elected to retain the benefit of the judgment appealed from with respect to some of its lands. This, we think, is technically correct;² but in view of the fact that the State has been and is resisting the attempt of the Government to take any State lands in the area in suit, we think that, for the purpose of this opinion we may, without impropriety, treat the appeal of the State as though it were taken from the judgment with respect to all of its lands affected.

It is our opinion that the court below had jurisdiction of this proceeding. It is true that it is a civil controversy to which the State is a party. It is also true that Article III, § 2, clause 2, of the Constitution of the United States gives to the Supreme Court original jurisdiction in cases to which a State is a party, and that by § 233 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 341, Congress provided that that court should have exclusive jurisdiction of civil controversies to which a State is a party. But Congress, nevertheless, has power to grant concurrent jurisdiction of such cases to other federal courts.³ By the Act of August 1, 1888, c. 728, § 1, 25 Stat. 357, 40 U.S.C.A. § 257, Congress authorized the bringing of every condemnation suit for the acquisition of lands for the United States in the United States District Court of "the district wherein such real estate is located." A proceeding such as this is local in character, is in rem against the land, and is only incidentally concerned with questions of title. It is the sort of proceeding which, for the convenience of all parties interested, should be brought in the district where the land is located. We think that Congress intended by the Act of August 1, 1888, to confer jurisdiction of all condemnation proceedings brought by the United States upon the District Courts of the United States, regardless of whether State lands are involved. Moreover, when Congress passed the Act of July 24, 1935, for the purpose of indicating that all lands in the area in suit, regardless of ownership, were to be acquired for this Indian reserve, it acted with knowledge that a prior petition for condemnation filed in the court below, pursuant to the Act of June 23, 1926, had been dismissed because it was thought that that Act did not clearly indicate an intent to take State lands. The amendment made in 1935 to the Act of 1926 was intended to remove all obstacles to further proceedings for condemnation in the court below. It is not conceivable to us that the Supreme Court was the only court in which this proceeding could have been brought.

We are of the opinion that the United States has the power to acquire by condemnation lands for use as an Indian Reservation which are suitable for that purpose, although the lands belong to a State and although the State has devoted them to a public use.

That the area involved in this proceeding is suitable for the purposes for which the United States proposes to acquire it, is conceded. The area lies in the northern part of Minnesota, in a sparsely settled region not far from Indian communities. Rice Lake is capable of producing large quantities of wild rice and has been resorted to by the Indians for many years. The area has little value for commercial or agricultural purposes. It is a feeding and breeding place for waterfowl and other game birds and animals. It is capable of furnishing food and occupation for the Indians. Whether the use of the area by the State for a conservation project, game refuge, and public shooting ground, with the right reserved to the Chippewa Indians to harvest wild rice, would be more advantageous to the public than the use to which the United States proposes to put the area, we think is a legislative question and not a judicial one. See and compare State of Oklahoma v. Guy F. Atkinson Co., 313 U.S. 508, 527, 61 S.Ct. 1050, 85 L.Ed. 1487. It was for Congress to say whether this project was justified in the national...