ELR Citation: ELR 20009
No(s). 03-35145 (9th Cir. Jan 6, 2005)

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's denial of a Native American tribe's motion to reopen a 1981 judgment that denied the tribe treaty fishing rights on the ground that the tribe had not maintained an organized tribal structure. In 1996 the tribe became federally recognized, and the lower court abused its discretion in ruling that federal recognition is not determinative of the issue of tribal organization.

A prior decision in this litigation is published at 11 ELR 20016.