Adams v Elfo et al

Filing 74

ORDER. Petitioner's objections to the R&R (Dkt. No. 70 ) are OVERRULED. The Court ADOPTS the Judge Peterson's third R&R (Dkt. No. 69 ) and DENIES Petitioner's motion for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 56 ). Signed by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour. (PM)

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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ELILE ADAMS,

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v.

CASE NO. C19-1263-JCC
Petitioner,

ORDER

BILL ELFO, et al.,

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Respondents.

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This matter comes before the Court on Petitioner Elile Adams’ objections (Dkt. No. 70)

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to the third Report and Recommendation (R&R) of the Honorable Michelle Peterson, United

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States Magistrate Judge (Dkt. No. 69). Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and

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the relevant record, the Court finds oral argument unnecessary and hereby OVERRULES

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Petitioner’s objections and ADOPTS the R&R for the reasons explained herein.

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The Court described the facts of this case in prior orders, (see Dkt. Nos. 43, 54), and will

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not repeat them here, except as relevant to the instant R&R and related objections. Following

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Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 56), the Court referred the matter to Judge

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Peterson to consider the following issue: “whether the fact that Public Law 280 predates federal

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recognition of the Nooksack Tribe impacts [Judge Peterson’s] determination that the Nooksack

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Tribal Court did not plainly lack jurisdiction over the Suchanon allotment at the time of

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[Petitioner’s] arrest.” (Dkt. No. 62 at 2.) Following supplemental briefing, Judge Peterson issued
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a third R&R (Dkt. No. 69). In it she concluded that, even if Public Law 280 predated federal

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recognition of the Nooksack Tribe, the Tribal Court did not plainly lack jurisdiction over the

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Suchanon allotment at the time of Petitioner’s arrest. (See id. at 10–11.) Petitioner again objects

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to Judge Peterson’s recommendation. (Dkt. No. 70.)

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A district court reviews de novo those portions of a report and recommendation to which

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a party objects. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3). Objections are required to

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enable the district court to “focus attention on those issues—factual and legal—that are at the

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heart of the parties’ dispute.” Thomas v. Arn, 474 U.S. 140, 147 (1985). General objections, or

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summaries of arguments previously presented, have the same effect as no objection at all, since

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the Court’s attention is not focused on any specific issues for review. See United States v.

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Midgette, 478 F.3d 616, 622 (4th Cir. 2007). “The district judge may accept, reject, or modify

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the recommended disposition; receive further evidence; or return the matter to the magistrate

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judge with instructions.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3).

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Petitioner lodged a number of general objections to Judge Peterson’s third R&R, which

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the Court need not address. See Ali v. Grounds, 236 F. Supp. 3d 1241, 1249 (S.D. Cal. 2017)

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(citing Goney v. Clark, 749 F.2d 5, 7 (3d Cir. 1984)). At issue is Petitioner’s specific objection

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that Judge Peterson erred in failing to consider that Congress’s 1970 amendment to Public Law

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280 granted state governments “exclusive jurisdiction” over Indian crimes on enumerated Indian

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lands. (Dkt. No. 70 at 4 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 1162(c).) Petitioner is correct that Washington does

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have jurisdiction over the Suchanon allotment. See State v. Cooper, 928 P.2d 406 (Wash. 1996).

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But the notion that this jurisdiction is exclusive of the Nooksack Tribal Court’s is not supported

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by the legislative history of Public Law 280 or courts’ interpretations of the statute.

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The legislative history of Public Law 280 indicates that its purpose was a jurisdictional

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transfer between the state and federal government, not between the state and tribal governments,

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and it was done to supplement tribal authority, not divest it. See, e.g., S.Rep. No. 699, 83d Cong.,

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1st Sess., reprinted in 1953 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin. News 2409, 2412 (“[T]here has been
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created a hiatus in law-enforcement authority that could best be remedied by conferring criminal

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jurisdiction on States indicating an ability and willingness to accept such responsibility.”) As the

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Assistant Secretary of the Interior stated to Congress in 1970, “[the] new language . . . [was] not

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intended . . . to have any bearing on actual or potential arrangements between States and the

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tribes which [sic] respect to the allocation of law enforcement responsibility between them . . .

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[and] no effect on whatever inherent jurisdiction particular tribes may have retained in states

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which were given or have assumed jurisdiction pursuant to . . . [Public Law 280] as amended.”

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116 H. Cong. Rec. 37,354 (1970) (emphasis added).

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Similarly, the Supreme Court has consistently emphasized that Public Law 280 is not a

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divesture statute. See Bryan v. Itasca County, 426 U.S. 373, 383–390 (1976); California v.

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Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 222 (1987). In addition, the Ninth and Eigth

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Circuits have held that Public Law 280 establishes concurrent jurisdiction between tribes and

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states. Native Village of Venetie I.R.A. Council v. State of Alaska, 944 F.2d 548 (9th Cir. 1991)

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(“Public Law 280 was designed not to supplant tribal institutions but to supplement them.”);

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Walker v. Rushing 898 F.2d 672, 675 (8th Cir. 1990) (“Public Law 280 did not divest Indian

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tribes of their sovereign power to punish their own members for violations of tribal law. Nothing

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in the wording of Public Law 280 or its legislative history precludes concurrent tribal

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authority.”). This view has also been professed by the Washington State Supreme Court, which

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indicated that “both the state and tribe may have jurisdiction in any given criminal case, and

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prosecution by one does not bar the other from also charging an offender with a crime arising out

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of the same conduct.” State v. Shale, 345 P.3d 776 (Wash. 2015) (citing State v. Moses, 37 P.3d

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1216 (Wash. 2002)).

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Accordingly, Judge Peterson did not err in concluding that the Nooksack Tribal Court did

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not plainly lack jurisdiction over the Suchanon allotment, irrespective of whether federal tribal

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recognition predated Public Law 280. This is because Public Law 280 has no impact on the

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Tribe’s authority over the allotment, regardless of the “exclusive” language presently contained

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in the statute.

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For the foregoing reasons, Petitioner’s objections to the R&R (Dkt. No. 70) are

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OVERRULED. The Court ADOPTS the Judge Peterson’s third R&R (Dkt. No. 69) and DENIES

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Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration (Dkt. No. 56).

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DATED this 3rd day of June 2021.

A

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John C. Coughenour
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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