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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2002

A Washington tribe who was knocked off the federal recognition list by the Bureau of Indian Affairs lost an attempt to reaffirm its treaty rights on Thursday.

Although the Samish Nation was restored status in 1996 after a lengthy battle, a federal judge was not inclined to do the same for its fishing rights. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein of the Western District of Washington denied a motion to reopen the historic Boldt ruling, which divided the salmon catch between Indians and non-Indians, to include the tribe.

"Finality and certainty require that long-resolved issues in this case remain undisturbed," she wrote.

The decision is another blow to a tribe whose long fight to regain its dignity has been characterized by government recalcitrance. The BIA's removal of the tribe from the list of federally acknowledged entities in the 1960s was just a clerical mistake but it took decades for the problem to be corrected.

"The Samish people's quest for federal recognition as an Indian tribe has a protracted and tortured history, and their long journey for recognition has been made more difficult by excessive delays and governmental misconduct," U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly wrote in a 1996 ruling that held Scott Keep, a government attorney who still works for the Department of Interior, in contempt of court for trying to meddle in the tribe's recognition bid.

The tribe's fishing rights claim is directly connected to the debacle. U.S. District Judge George Boldt, in his last action on the bench, signed an order excluding the Samish and four other tribes from his earlier 1974 ruling that upheld the Treaty of Point Elliott. Based on the 1855 treaty, he said Indian fishermen were entitled to half of the salmon catch.

Samish ancestors were signatories to the treaty. But on appeal, a unanimous 9th Circuit rebuffed the Samish, citing the status issue. "It seems evident in this finding that the 'attributes of sovereignty' found to be lacking in the Samish Tribe are those arising from federal recognition," the court wrote in 1981.

The battle is complicated because nine other signatory tribes that never lost federal recognition objected to the Samish motion to reopen the record. And although Boldt was suffering from Alzheimer's at the time of his retirement in 1979, the tribes are reluctant to jeopardize his landmark rulings.

Separately, the Samish Nation has sued the Interior for the administrative oversight. A September 14 lawsuit filed in federal district court claims the department's repeated failures "have adversely affected the tribe have caused harm to the Samish Tribe and its members."

"The department has continued since 1996 to fail to act on the tribe's behalf by failing to comply with federal law," the complaint states.

Former Assistant Secretary Ada Deer in 1996 issued the decision to recognize the Samish. She did so over objections by Keep, who had worked to oppose the tribe's treaty rights. He is forever barred from working on matters related to the tribe but still participates in other federal recognition petitions.

Get the Decision:
Order Denying the Samish Tribe's Motion to Reopen Judgment (December 19, 2002)

Relevant Links:
Samish Indian Nation - http://www.samishtribe.nsn.us

Related Stories:
Wash. tribe in court reclaim treaty rights (12/06)
Jilted tribe sues for compensation (10/16)
Samish Tribe trying to regain treaty rights (12/11)
Solutions sought for 'hijacked' recognition (11/9)