Dean Parisian
Active Member
- Messages
- 440
BILLINGS ? A federal appeals court has affirmed a Montana regulation that bans non-Indians from big game hunting within Native American reservations, even if the land is privately owned.
A Colorado-based legal foundation challenged the ban on behalf of a Montana man in 2005, saying it discriminated against non-Indians and violated private-property rights.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling last week that the regulation was legal. The court said it was not a racial ban but one based on tribal membership, making it political.
The ruling upheld a February 2007 decision from U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings, in a lawsuit brought by Randy Roberts. Roberts, of Billings, was blocked by the state regulation from hunting on his mother's 1,500 acres within the Crow Reservation.
Many reservations have large pockets of land owned by non-Indians. In some cases, the land was given away by the federal government decades ago to homesteaders. Non-Indians also buy land from tribal members.
The state first barred non-Indians from hunting on reservations in the 1950s, at the request of some tribes, said Bob Lane, an attorney for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Tribal members can hunt anywhere on a reservation with landowner consent.
Dean Parisian
Chippewa Partners
Team Muleys Pro Staff
http://chippewapartners.blogspot.com
A Colorado-based legal foundation challenged the ban on behalf of a Montana man in 2005, saying it discriminated against non-Indians and violated private-property rights.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling last week that the regulation was legal. The court said it was not a racial ban but one based on tribal membership, making it political.
The ruling upheld a February 2007 decision from U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings, in a lawsuit brought by Randy Roberts. Roberts, of Billings, was blocked by the state regulation from hunting on his mother's 1,500 acres within the Crow Reservation.
Many reservations have large pockets of land owned by non-Indians. In some cases, the land was given away by the federal government decades ago to homesteaders. Non-Indians also buy land from tribal members.
The state first barred non-Indians from hunting on reservations in the 1950s, at the request of some tribes, said Bob Lane, an attorney for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Tribal members can hunt anywhere on a reservation with landowner consent.
Dean Parisian
Chippewa Partners
Team Muleys Pro Staff
http://chippewapartners.blogspot.com
