Supreme Court tie favors Indian tribes in Washington state
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington state must restore salmon habitat by removing barriers that block fish migration after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower court order.
The justices divided 4-4 in the long-running dispute that pits the state against Northwest Indian tribes and the federal government. The tie serves to affirm a lower court ruling.
Justice Anthony Kennedy stepped aside from the case because he participated in an earlier stage when he served on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
At issue is whether the state must pay billions to fix or replace hundreds of culverts — large pipes that allow streams to pass beneath roads but can block migrating salmon if they become clogged or if they’re too steep to navigate.
Leaders of several western Washington tribes cheered the decision Monday, calling it a victory that affirms their treaty rights while protecting salmon central to their way of life.
The Supreme Court in April heard the state’s appeal of a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court affirmed a lower court order in 2013 requiring the state to fix or replace hundreds of the highest-priority culverts within 17 years.
Washington has argued that its treaties with the tribes created no obligation to restore salmon habitat. It said the ruling would force it to perform work that wouldn’t benefit salmon because other barriers may completely block fish, and it would also make the state’s taxpayers responsible for fixing problems created by the federal government when it specified the design for the state’s old highway culverts.
In seeking a Supreme Court review, Attorney General Bob Ferguson was at odds with other state officials, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz.
The U.S. government sued Washington in 2001 on behalf of the 21 tribes to force it to replace the culverts with structures that allow fish to pass through. Because the pipes block salmon from reaching their spawning grounds, they deprive the tribes of fishing rights guaranteed by treaty, the lawsuit said.
In 2013, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez ordered Washington to fix or replace more than 1,000 culverts blocking access to 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) of salmon habitat. He also set a deadline of 2030 for the high-priority barriers.
By next year, the state transportation department would have spent $200 million to fix 66 high-priority culverts with about 425 remaining, said Paul Wagner, who heads that agency’s fish passage program.
“It will be a big victory for fisheries,” said Bob Anderson, a law professor and director the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington.
He said that since 1905, the court has consistently upheld the tribal position that they have a right to a fair share of the salmon, and implied rights that go along with that. “This case is a logical extension of those prior decisions.”
State Sen. Reuven Carlyle, chairman of the Senate Energy, Environment and Technology Committee, said Monday’s ruling was “a forcing function to double down on every level to re-prioritize our approach to salmon.”
Supreme Court declines Alaska militia leader’s appeal
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a former Fairbanks militia leader convicted of conspiring to kill federal officials.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that Schaeffer Cox’s appeal was among the more than 150 petitions that the court rejected without explanation Monday.
Cox, an advocate for gun rights and the anti-government sovereign citizen ideology, was convicted of nine felonies by an Anchorage jury in 2012.
The charges included conspiracy to murder federal officials, solicitation to murder federal officials and charges of owning and conspiring to own illegal weapons.
A federal appeals court overturned the murder solicitation conviction but upheld his other convictions last year.
Cox is serving a 26-year prison term but is scheduled to be resentenced based on the federal appeals court ruling.
