Supreme Court rejects subsistence challenge

Tuesday, January 23, 2007  

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to the subsistence rights of Alaska Natives.

Rural hunters and fishermen claimed the Interior Department's preferences for Native rights violated the U.S. Constitution. A federal judge and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claim.

The Alaska Constitutional Legal Defense Conservation Fund filed a petition with the Supreme Court but it was rejected without comment. The Alaska Federation of Natives, which had intervened, hopes the move ends the debate over subsistence rights but President Julie Kitka it's possible the issue could come up in the future.

The case is Alaska Constitutional Legal Defense Conservation Fund v. Kempthorne, No. 06-07. The 9th Circuit opinion was unpublished.

Get the Story:
High court upholds rural subsistence preference (The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 1/23)

Relevant Links:
Alaska Federation of Natives - http://www.nativefederation.org
Federal Subsistence Board - http://alaska.fws.gov/asm/fsb.cfm?fsb=1

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