Gladys Stray Calf v. Scott Land & Livestock Co.

Plaintiffs-Appellants are adult Crow Indians, each of whom is the beneficial owner of trust land in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana. DefendantsAppellees are non-Indian ranchers who lease the trust land from the plaintiffs for farming and grazing. The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the defendants’ leasing practices violate statutory and regulatory provisions which limit the duration of leases of Crow trust lands. The plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief and damages.

After the parties stipulated that there were no issues of fact, except on the issue of damages, the district court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. 391 F.Supp. 433 (D.Mont.1975). The plaintiffs appeal. We affirm.

The Crow Indian Reservation, created by the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, 15 Stat. 649 , comprises about 2,000,000 acres. In the Crow Allotment Act of 1920, Act of June 4, 1920, ch. 224, 41 Stat. 751 , Congress allotted to individual Crow Indians the tribal land suitable for agriculture and grazing. The Act established a commission to divide the Crow tribe into two classes — competent and…

I respectfully dissent. I conclude that the leases in question violate the Crow Allotment Act, as amended, and should be declared void.

The lessees, Scott Land & Livestock Co., et al, urge that the 1948 amendment to the Crow Allotment Act, which deleted an earlier provision prohibiting the renewal of leases of grazing lands prior to one year before their termination, 1 opened the way for the practice now before us. The 1948 amendment, it is said, must be construed consistently with congressional intent gradually to emancipate the Crow Indians from government interference in managing their allotted property.

I am of the opinion that the Act must also be read in the light of the special relationship of the United States to the Indians. The nature of this relationship was aptly first described by Chief Justice Marshall in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 , 8 L.Ed.2d 25 (1831), as “perhaps, unlike that of any other two people in existence.” 1'd. at 16. He observed that Indian tribes, rather than being foreign states, “may, more correctly, perhaps, be denominated domestic dependent nations” “in a state of pupilage” and concluded that “[tjheir relation to the United…

549 F.2d 1209 Gladys STRAY CALF et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SCOTT LAND & LIVESTOCK CO. et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 75-1946. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Dec. 30, 1976. Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied March 9, 1977. 1 Daniel H. Israel (argued), of Native American Rights Fund, Billings, Mont., for plaintiffs-appellants. 2 Cale Crowley (argued), of Crowley, Kilbourne, Haughey, Hanson & Gallagher, Billings, Mont., for defendants-appellees. 3 Before KOELSCH and WALLACE, Circuit Judges, and BURNS, * District Judge. BURNS, District Judge: 4 Plaintiffs-Appellants are adult Crow Indians, each of whom is the beneficial owner of trust land in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana. Defendants-Appellees are non-Indian ranchers who lease the trust land from the plaintiffs for farming and grazing. The plaintiffs seek a declaration that the defendants' leasing practices violate statutory and regulatory provisions which limit the duration of leases of Crow trust lands. The plaintiffs also seek injunctive relief and damages. 5 After the parties stipulated that there were no issues of fact, except on the issue of damages, the district court…