Jack Moses, Puyallup Tribe v. George Kinnear, as Director of the Department of Revenue, State of Washington

This is a consolidated appeal from a district court order staying proceedings in two cases “pending exhaustion of state remedies by plaintiffs”.

These actions were commenced by plaintiff-appellant Jack Moses, an enrolled member of the Puyallup Tribe, and Corwin King, an enrolled member of the Samish Indian Tribe, against defendant-appellee, the Director of the Washington Department of Revenue, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the imposition of excise taxes by the State of Washington upon the sale, possession and use of cigarettes and other tobacco products sold by Moses on Indian trust land outside the exterior boundaries of the Puyallup Reservation and by King on land within the exterior boundaries of the Reservation. The district court granted leave to appellant Puyallup Tribe to intervene as a party plaintiff in both actions.

On August 6, 1971 the district court entered an order applicable to both cases assuming, but not deciding, that it had jurisdiction and staying all proceedings pending exhaustion of state remedies. Jack Moses and Puyallup Tribe appealed from the stay order. The issues on this appeal are (1) whether the stay order of the district court is…