Oneida Nation v. Village of Hobart, Wisconsin

371 F. Supp. 3d 500
District Court, E.D. Wisconsin·Decided March 28, 2019·No. Case No. 16-C-1217·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

The subsequent treatment of the land in question does support the conclusion that the Oneida reservation was diminished, however. The numerous statements of federal officials referring to the "former reservation," even if ambiguous as to disestablishment, at least manifest the view that the original boundaries were no longer intact. Just as in Stockbridge-Munsee , "the land became subject to state taxes, and the Department of the Interior refused to intervene in alcohol-related problems within the original reservation." 554 F.3d at 665. In 1903, the Wisconsin legislature enacted legislation to create the towns of Hobart and Oneida "from the territory now embraced within the Oneida Reservation in said counties" and conferred upon them "all the rights, powers and privileges conferred upon and granted to other towns in the state of Wisconsin." DSUMF ¶ 37. Soon thereafter, each town formed its own government. This court's decision in Stevens , though not entitled to preclusive effect, also constitutes evidence of the manner in which the Reservation was viewed by federal officials prior to the enactment of the IRA and demonstrates that once fee patents were granted, local property taxes were assessed.

Other state and federal officials also viewed the Oneida Reservation as at least diminished. In 1919, the Office of Indian Affairs, the predecessor to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, closed the Oneida Agency and transferred jurisdiction over the Oneida to the Keshena Agency, located on the Menominee Reservation. Id. ¶ 53. In 1931, the Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin wrote a letter addressing jurisdiction with respect to the Oneida in which he stated:

There is very little tribal land left, and most of the individual allotments have passed from the control of the United States and are therefore subject to the unquestioned jurisdiction of the state. However, in the case of the small amount of tribal land remaining and the individual allotments which are still held in trust, the federal courts would have jurisdiction .... Most of the Oneidas have received a fee patent discharged of any trust. Many of them have sold their lands. The state has jurisdiction over those Indians that have a fee patent.

Id. ¶ 76. On November 19, 1931, C.J. Rhoads, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote to a member of the Tribe concerning hunting and fishing rights:

Generally speaking, the State game laws apply to the Indians except when exercising their hunting and fishing privileges on tribal Indian land within their reservation or, if allotted, within the limits *522of their own allotments still held in trust or under restricted patents.
There are only a few small tracts of tribal Indian land within the limits of what was formerly the Oneida Indian Reservation. The ceded land to which the Indian title has been extinguished no longer belongs to the Indians, and as you have received a fee patent to your ... land and the Oneida Indian Reservation has been broken up, you would have no special hunting or fishing privileges thereon because of the fact that you are an Indian. Under the circumstances you should comply with the state laws and regulations as to season, license, etc.

Id. ¶ 78.

This and other similar evidence cited by the Village supports the conclusion that in the aftermath of the 1906 Act and up until the enactment of the IRA, the Oneida Reservation was substantially diminished, though not completely disestablished. In 1975, the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs issued a report entitled "Statistical Data for Planning Oneida Reservation," which stated that "the total acreage of this reservation is 2,581 acres-2,108 acres are tribally owned and 473 acres are allotted." Id. ¶ 123. The report noted that "by 1930 only a thousand acres remained. In 1934, through a series of land purchases, the acreage was increased to the present amount." Id.

As the Village points out, and as this court noted in a previous case between the parties, in more recent years the Nation has made substantial purchases of land within the original reservation boundaries. Id. ¶¶ 128-29; Oneida Tribe of Wis. v. Vill. of Hobart , 542 F.Supp.2d 908, 913 (E.D. Wis. 2008). But the Nation's purchase of property on the open market does not by itself increase the size of its Reservation. See City of Sherrill, N.Y. v. Oneida Nation of N.Y. , 544 U.S. 197, 202-03, 125 S.Ct. 1478, 161 L.Ed.2d 386 (2005) ("Given the longstanding, distinctly non-Indian character of the area and its inhabitants, the regulatory authority constantly exercised by New York State and its counties and towns, and the Oneidas' long delay in seeking judicial relief against parties other than the United States, we hold that the Tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancient sovereignty, in whole or in part, over the parcels at issue. The Oneidas long ago relinquished the reins of government and cannot regain them through open-market purchases from current titleholders."). As of December 28, 2017, however, 14,078.612 acres of the original Reservation are held in trust on behalf of the Nation. Def.'s Statement of Additional Proposed Undisputed Material Facts ¶ 12, ECF No. 100. The record is silent, however, as to how much of the total acreage held in trust is within the Village, but this acreage reflects the current size and location of the Oneida Reservation.

C. Enforcement of the Ordinance

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Oneida Nation v. Village of Hobart, Wisconsin, 371 F. Supp. 3d 500 (E.D. Wis. 2019).

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