Ramon Ruiz and Anita Ruiz v. Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior

462 F.2d 818 Ramon RUIZ and Anita Ruiz, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Rogers C. B. MORTON, Secretary of the Interior, Defendant-Appellee. No. 25568. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. May 31, 1972. Rehearing Denied Aug. 31, 1972. Winton D. Woods, Jr. (argued), Tucson, Ariz., Lindsay Brew (argued), Sells, Ariz., Anthony B. Ching, Tucson, Ariz., for plaintiffs-appellants. Carl Strass, Washington, D. C. (argued), Raymond N. Zagone, Shiro Kashiwa, Asst. Atty. Gen., Washington, D. C., Richard K. Burke, U. S. Atty., Richard S. Allemann, Asst. U. S. Atty., Phoenix, Ariz., for defendant-appellee. Before BARNES, MERRILL and KILKENNY, Circuit Judges. KILKENNY, Circuit Judge: 1 Ramon and Anita Ruiz, appellants in this cause, are members of the Papago Tribe of American Indians. They reside with one of their children in Ajo, Arizona, some fifteen miles from the Papago Indian Reservation. The Ruiz home is in a section of Ajo known as the "Indian Village," where the community is predominantly of Papago origin. 2 Appellants left the Papago Reservation approximately thirty years ago to seek employment in the copper mines near Ajo, operated by the Phelps-Dodge Company. Ramon Ruiz worked in…

Ramon and Anita Ruiz, appellants in this cause, are members of the Papago Tribe of American Indians. They reside with one of their children in Ajo, Arizona, some fifteen miles from the Papago Indian Reservation. The Ruiz home is in a section of Ajo known as the “Indian Village,” where the community is predominantly of Papago origin.

Appellants left the Papago Reservation approximately thirty years ago to seek employment in the copper mines near Ajo, operated by the Phelps-Dodge Company. Ramon Ruiz worked in the copper mines until they were closed by a strike on July 19, 1967. Unable to obtain other employment, Ruiz sought welfare assistance from the state of Arizona. He was informed by the Pima County Welfare Director, however, that neither general assistance nor emergency relief from the Arizona Department of Public Welfare was available to striking union members. 1 2 At the time, the Ruiz family was receiving fifteen dollars per week from the union in the form of strike benefits.

On December 11, 1967, Ruiz applied for general assistance benefits from the Bureau of Indian Affairs [Bureau]. The Bureau notified appellants by letter of December 13, 1967, that such benefits were…

(dissenting) :

I dissent.

The question concerns the reasonableness of the construction effectively placed upon the Snyder Act by the regulation. 1 I do not find that construction to be unreasonable.

*825 I think it important to note that the statute is simply one authorizing expenditures for the Indians. See S.Rep. No.294, 67th Cong., 1st Sess. (1921); H.Rep.No.275, 67th Cong., 1st Sess. (1921); 61 Cong.Rec. 4659, 4668-69, 4671-73, 4675, 4680, 4683-84 (1921). As such, it is quite naturally stated in the broadest terms and thus allows the Bureau of Indian Affairs to help Indians everywhere in the nation. As one commentator has noted, the Act was “intended merely as an authorization for general appropriations,” with the specifics of administration left to the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau. Wolf, Needed: A System of Income Maintenance for Indians, 10 Ariz.L.Rev. 597, 607-08 (1968).

But the granting of broad authority does not preclude (indeed, it seems to require) reasonable Bureau decisions as to how its limited funds may best be allocated and the drawing of reasonable classifications determining areas of greatest need. It does not to me seem an unreasonable…