Herrera v. Wyoming
The Court Says Wyoming’s Statehood Did Not Nullify Its Indian Treaties
Herrera v. Wyoming was featured in Indian Treaty Rights, Supreme Court Debates (Feb. 2019). The following is excerpted from the 5-to-4 majority opinion written by Justice Sotomayor, as prepared by the Court Reporter of Decisions. The Crow Tribe’s hunting rights under the 1868 Treaty did not expire upon Wyoming’s statehood. This case is controlled by Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians (1999), not Ward v. Race Horse (1896). Race Horse concerned a hunting right guaranteed in an 1868 treaty with the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes containing language identical to that at issue here. Relying on two lines of…
