Case library · Treaty Waters
A Grant of Islands
Metlakatla Indian Community v. Egan (1962)
Charge: Salmon fish-trap ban on a reservationCourt: U.S. Supreme CourtState: AlaskaDocket: Treaty Waters
May a new state apply its statewide ban on a type of fishing gear to a reserve fishery that federal officials have long allowed?
The facts
In 1891 Congress set aside a group of islands for a Native community, to be held and used in common under such rules as the Secretary of the Interior might prescribe. The community, about eight hundred people, ran salmon fish traps in the surrounding waters under federal regulations going back to 1915. The newly admitted state then banned fish traps everywhere inside its borders as a conservation measure and warned the community it would enforce that ban.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Metlakatla Indian Community v. Egan, 369 U.S. 45 (1962)
Read more at law.cornell.edu. The source reveals the outcome.