Copyright © 1996 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

On December 1995, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for the United States, Denver, Colorado, issued a decision against the Crow Tribe of the Crow Nation on a hunting case, which tested the aboriginal hunting rights of the Crow Tribe guaranteed in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The case is Crow Tribe of Indians and Thomas L. Ten Bear vs. Chuck Regis, a/k/a the Thomas Ten Bear Case. The 10th Circuit Court based its decision on a controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ward vs. Race Horse, 1896.

Thomas L. Ten Bear, a Crow tribal member, was cited by Chuck Regis, a game warden employed by the State of Wyoming Fish and Game Department, for killing an elk on federal lands within the Big Horn National Forest without a State of Wyoming hunting license. As part of his unsuccessful defense, Ten Bear argued that he had an unrestricted aboriginal right to hunt in the Big Horn National Forest (a federal enclave), as "unoccupied lands of the United States" under Article 4 of the Treaty with the Crows, 1868.

Arlo Dawes, Executive Assistant to Clara Nomee, Chairperson, Crow Nation, stated that the Ward vs. Race Horse decision of 1896 has been repudiated and has been criticized by courts over the years. "The decision by the 10th Circuit Court is like reaffirming the Dred Scott vs. Sandford Case, which involved the Black American," stated Dawes. The Crow Tribe is filing an appeal in the United States Supreme Court in March.

Because of the different mitigating factors between the Ten Bear and the Ward vs. Race Horse decisions, Crow Tribal leaders and tribal attorneys stated that the merits itself would likely warrant the Supreme Court to hear the case.

In an unprecedented feat in the history of the Northern Great Plains, the Crow Indians and the Sioux Indians, once deadly enemies, are in discussions to put animosities aside to ally with one another to stand up for a common cause. A medicine peace pipe ceremony between the tribes is tentatively planned at the Crow Nation on June 25, 1996.

Indian leaders throughout the United States are urged to write to President Bill Clinton, Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, and Janet Reno, Attorney General, Department of Justice to:

1. urge the United States to intervene on behalf of the Crow Tribe, and

2. urge President Clinton, Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Attorney General Janet Reno to make recommendations to the United States Supreme Court to hear the Ten Bear Case.

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President Bill Clinton
1600 Pennsylvania Ave,
Washington, DC 20500
email: clinton@whitehouse.gov
or president@whitehouse.gov

Attorney General Janet Reno
Dept. of Justice,
10th & Constitution NW,
Washington DC 20530

Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt
1849 C Street, N.W.
Main Interior Bldg., Rm. 6151
Washington, D.C. 20240