Yankton Sioux Tribe v. Gaffey
| Decision Date | 17 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-3896,No. 98-3893,N,98-3893,98-3896 |
| Citation | 188 F.3d 1010 |
| Parties | (8th Cir. 1999) Yankton Sioux Tribe, and its individual members, Appellee, United States of America, on its own behalf and for the benefit of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Intervenor Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Matt Gaffey, States Attorney of Charles Mix County; Herman Peters, Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota,.Counnty Commission; Bruce Bakken,Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota, County Commission; Jack Soulek, Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota, County Commission, Appellants, William Janklow, Governor of South Dakota; Mark W. Barnett, Attorney General of South Dakota,Defendants. Gary Beeson, Landowner; City of Dante; City of Geddes; City of Lake Andes; City of Pickstown; City of Platte; City of Ravinia; City of Wagner; Harvey P. Weisser, doing business as Weisser Oil Co., Inc., Individually, Amici on behalf of Appellant, Vine Deloria, Jr.; Philip S. Deloria; Philip Lane, Sr.; Philip Lane, Jr.; James Weddell, descendants of Francois Deloria, Signatory to the Treaty of 1858, and descendants and relatives of Philip J. Deloria, Amici on Behalf of Appellee. Yankton Sioux Tribe, and its individual members, Appellee, United States of America, on its own behalf and for the benefit of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, Intervenor Plaintiff - Appellee, v. Matt Gaffey, States Attorney of Charles Mix County; Herman Peters, Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota, County Commission; Bruce Bakken, Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota, County Commission; Jack Soulek, Member of the Charles Mix, South Dakota, County Comission, Defendants, William Janklow, Governor of South Dakota; Mark W. Barnett, Attorney General of South Dakota, Appellants. Gary Beeson, Landowner; City of Dante; City of Geddes; City of Lake Andes; City of Pickstown; City of Platte; City of Ravinia; City of Wagner; Harvey P. Weisser, doing business as Weisser Oil Co., Inc., Individually, Amici on behalf of Appellant, Vine Deloria, Jr.; Philip S. Deloria; Philip Lane, Sr.; Philip Lane, Jr.; James Weddell, descendan |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota
Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, MAGILL, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
Before the court are several appeals from judgments concerning lands once recognized to be part of the Yankton Sioux Reservation. After the Supreme Court decided in South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe, 118 S. Ct. 789 (1998) (Yankton), that the reservation had been diminished at the end of the nineteenth century when the Yankton Sioux Tribe (Tribe) ceded land to the United States, that case was remanded for further proceedings.1 In the district court the case was then consolidated with an as well as William Janklow, Governor of South Dakota and Mark W. Barnett, Attorney General of South Dakota (collectively "state officials")action brought by the Tribe to challenge state criminal jurisdiction over acts of tribal members on nonceded land within the original reservation boundaries. After an evidentiary hearing, the district court granted declaratory relief to the Tribe, its individual members, and its chairman Darrell Drapeau, and issued permanent injunctions enjoining state officials from exercising criminal jurisdiction over tribal members on "allotted or reserved lands." Yankton Sioux Tribe v. Gaffey, 14 F. Supp. 2d 1135, 1160 (D.S.D. 1998). The district court concluded that the reservation has not been disestablished and still includes all land within the original exterior reservation boundaries that was not ceded to the United States. See id. at 1159. The State of South Dakota (State), the Southern Missouri Waste Management District (District), and the individual named state and county officials appeal.2
We affirm the conclusion that the reservation was never clearly disestablished, but we reverse the conclusion that the original exterior boundaries of the reservation continue to have effect and that all nonceded lands remain part of the reservation. We also vacate the injunctions issued in the district court and remand the cases for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The original boundaries of the Yankton Sioux Reservation were defined in a treaty between the United States and the Yankton Sioux Tribe on April 19, 1858, 11 Stat. 743 (1858 Treaty), to include approximately 400,000 acres in what is now Charles. Mix County, South Dakota.3 The Supreme Court held in Yankton that the reservation was diminished by land ceded to the United States under an 1892 agreement, later ratified by Congress in 1894. Act of Aug. 15, 1894, ch. 290, 28 Stat. 286, 314-19 (1894 Act). The specific question before the Court in Yankton was whether the Tribe continued to have jurisdiction over a portion of the ceded land on which the District planned to build a landfill. The Court focused its discussion on that issue, holding unanimously that the Yankton Sioux Reservation had been diminished by the 1894 Act, at least to the extent of the tracts ceded to the United States, and that the State has primary jurisdiction over all ceded lands including the waste site. See Yankton, 118 S. Ct. at 805.
The district court held an evidentiary hearing after Yankton was remanded and consolidated with the second case, and later ruled that the Yankton Sioux Reservation had not been disestablished and that it had only been diminished to the extent of the ceded lands. Yankton Sioux Tribe v. Gaffey, 14 F. Supp. 2d 1135 (D.S.D. 1998). The court noted that nothing in the explicit language of the 1892 agreement supports disestablishment, but that several articles support the conclusion that a diminished reservation remains intact. Id. at 1149-56. It also referred to the reports of the council meetings with the Tribe, which do not discuss boundary changes or relinquishment of the reservation, but indicate that the 1892 agreement "memoralized only the consent of the Tribe to sell the surplus lands." Id. at 1145. The efforts to have the tribal members live close to white settlers were not intended to eliminate the reservation, but to help the Indians adapt to changed conditions. Id. at 1146-47. The Indians could have concluded from the representations made by the government negotiators that they would retain independent powers of self government over their lands. Id. at 1147. The district court held that the Yankton Sioux Reservation consists of all nonceded land "within the original exterior 1858 treaty boundaries," including those parcels now owned by non Indians, as well as Indian owned land and the land reserved from sale in the 1892 agreement for agency, school, and other tribal purposes. Id. at 1159. It concluded that primary criminal and civil jurisdiction over these lands belongs to the Tribe and the United States. Id. The court then issued declaratory judgments and enjoined state and county officials from exercising criminal law enforcement jurisdiction over tribal members alleged to have committed crimes on reservation land. Id. at 1159-60.
The State, the District, and the individual state and county officials appealed from these judgments in four separate appeals which have been consolidated by this court. A motion to expedite the appeals was also granted.4 The four groups of appellants all present complementary arguments; they will be referred to collectively as "the State" when their arguments do not differ. The United States offers numerous arguments supportive of the Tribe's position; both appellees will be referred to collectively as "the Tribe" except where their arguments diverge. Each side basically argues that it is entitled to win on all issues left open by the Supreme Court in Yankton. The contentions between them primarily involve questions of law which we review de novo, although any factual findings are reviewed for clear error. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 52(a).
The State asserts that the 1894 Act disestablished the Yankton Sioux Reservation and that the only remaining Indian country within the original boundaries are "Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been extinguished." 18 U.S.C. 1151(c). It claims that the Supreme Court...
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