Baker

Appellants Kenneth M. Baker and Ralph Hale (defendants) were convicted in federal district court of one count each of conspiring to traffic in contraband cigarettes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2342 and 18 U.S.C. § 371 ; two counts each of trafficking in contraband cigarettes, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2342 (a); one count each of conspiring to commit racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (d); one count each of committing racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (c); and 671 and 218 counts, respectively, of money laundering, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (a)(l)(A)(i).

The defendants appeal their convictions and sentences. They contend that: (1) the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA), 18 U.S.C. § 2341 et seq., is not applicable to Indian traders; (2) even if the CCTA is applicable, the Act does not prohibit the activities for which they were prosecuted; (3) Washington’s cigarette tax scheme — on which their CCTA violation was predicated— is invalid as applied to Indians because it (a) impermissibly intrudes upon rights of Indian sovereignty, (b) is preempted by the Indian Trader Statutes and (c) violates the Equal Protection Clause;…