The Washington State Supreme Court will hear at least three important Indian law cases this year, showing a steady increase from the past several years when it has typically heard between zero and two Indian law cases.
The Court is scheduled to hear City of Snoqualmie v. Constantine regarding the constitutionality of property tax exemptions for tribally-owned property; Lundgren and Lundgren v. Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, which deals with sovereign immunity from adverse possession claims; and an ICWA active efforts case, In re the Adoption of T.A.W., R.B. and C.B. v. C.W.
Below is a chart of the Court and its Justices' voting patterns in tribal cases, over the last decade. Stay tuned for what could be a busy year in Washington State Indian law.
| Case | Pro-Tribal Interests | Anti-Tribal Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Wright (tribal corporate sovereign immunity) - 2005 | Madsen Owens Fairhurst |
C. Johnson J. Johnson |
| Eriksen (tribal detention of traffic offender in fresh pursuit, off reservation) - 2011 | Owens C. Johnson |
Stephens Wiggins Fairhurst Madsen J. Johnson |
| Jim (state jurisdiction over Treaty in lieu sites) - 2012 | Owens C. Johnson Fairhurst Stephens |
J. Johnson Madsen Wiggins |
| AUTO I (tribal indispensability to third-party fuel compact challenges) - 2012 | Madsen Owens Fairhurst González |
C. Johnson J. Johnson Stephens Wiggins |
| Clark (state search warrant execution in Washington Indian Country) - 2013 | Unanimous Madsen C. Johnson Owens J.Johnson Stephens Wiggins Gonzalez McCloud Fairhurst (Opinion) |
|
| Outsource Services Management, LLC v. Nooksack Business Corporation (contractual waiver of sovereign immunity) - 2013 | McCloud González |
Owens Madsen C. Johnson Fairhurst Stephens Wiggins Worswick* |
| State v. Shale (state criminal jurisdiction over Indian on another tribe’s reservation trust lands) - 2015 | Unanimous Madsen C. Johnson Owens Fairhurst Stephens Wiggins Gordon McCloud YuGonzalez (Opinion) |
|
| AUTO II (constitutionality of state-tribal tax agreements) - 2015 | Unanimous Madsen C. Johnson Owens Fairhurst Stephens Wiggins Gordon McCloud YuGonzalez (Opinion) |
|
| City of Snoqualmie v. Constantine (constitutionality of property tax exemption for tribally-owned property) | TBD | |
| Lundgren and Lundgren v. Upper Skagit Indian Tribe (sovereign immunity; adverse possession) | TBD | |
| In re the Adoption of T.A.W., R.B. and C.B. v. C.W. (ICWA active efforts) | TBD | |
Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC. He can be reached at 206.321.2672, anthony@galandabroadman.com, or via www.galandabroadman.com.
