White v. Califano, s. 77-1877

• Citation: 581 F.2d 697
• Decision Date: 22 August 1978
• Docket Number: Nos. 77-1877,77-1895,s. 77-1877
• Parties: Georgia WHITE, as Guardian ad Litem for Florence Red Dog, an Incompetent Person, et al., Appellees, v. Joseph CALIFANO, Jr., etc., et al., Appellants. Georgia WHITE, as Guardian ad Litem for Florence Red Dog, an Incompetent Person, Appellant, v. Joseph CALIFANO, Jr., etc., et al., Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)

Page 697

581 F.2d 697

Georgia WHITE, as Guardian ad Litem for Florence Red Dog, an Incompetent Person, et al., Appellees, v. Joseph CALIFANO, Jr., etc., et al., Appellants.

Georgia WHITE, as Guardian ad Litem for Florence Red Dog, an Incompetent Person, Appellant, v. Joseph CALIFANO, Jr., etc., et al., Appellees.

Nos. 77-1877, 77-1895.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

Submitted May 16, 1978.

Decided July 10, 1978.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied Aug. 22, 1978.

Miriam R. Eisenstein, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C. (argued), David Vrooman, U.S. Atty., Sioux Falls, S.D., Drew S. Days, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Walter W. Barnett, Atty., Washington, D.C., on brief for appellant, Dept. of Justice.

Anita Remerowski, South Dakota Legal Services, Mission, S.D. (argued), and Terry Pechota, Mission, S.D., on brief for appellee, Georgia White.

Mark V. Meierhenry, Vermillion, S.D. (argued), and William J. Janklow, Atty. Gen., Pierre, S.D., on brief, for appellee, Kneip.

Mario Gonzalez, Martin, S.D., on brief of amicus curiae, Oglala Sioux Indian Tribe.

Before GIBSON, Chief Judge, and HEANEY and BRIGHT, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

This case presents the question whether the United States or the State of South Dakota must pay for emergency inpatient mental health care provided to Florence Red Dog, an indigent member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe residing on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Because of severe mental illness, Ms. Red Dog was involuntarily hospitalized at the South Dakota Human Services Center, a state mental hospital. The state and the federal government disagree as to which should pay for the care. The Honorable Andrew W. Bogue, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota, in an opinion reported at 437 F.Supp. 543 (D.S.D.1977), held that the responsibility for care and payment rests with the United States. We affirm.

In deciding this case brought by Georgia White, as guardian ad litem for Ms. Red Dog, Judge Bogue rested his decision primarily on two straightforward principles. First, the State of South Dakota lacks the power to initiate and carry out involuntary commitment procedures of a mentally ill Indian residing upon an Indian reservation; therefore, the law imposes no duty on the state to provide mental health care for Ms. Red Dog. The district court said:

This Court therefore concludes, on the basis of Williams v. Lee (358 U.S. 217, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959)) and its progeny, that the state and county defendants in this case have no power to initiate or carry out the procedures for the Involuntary commitment of an allegedly mentally ill Indian person who resides in Indian country. The concept of tribal sovereignty, diluted though it may be, cannot coexist with the process and act of involuntary commitment by the power of the state under the circumstances presented in this case. (437 F.Supp. at 550.)

Second, because...