State of Minnestoa V. Mille-Lacs band of Chippewa Indians
March 24,1999
In 1837, the United States entered into a treaty with several bands of the Chippewa people that guaranteed usufructuary (hunting, fishing, and gathering) rights in perpetuity in exchange for the cession of Chippewa lands to the United States
Despite the 1837 treaty guaranteeing usufructuary rights to the Minne Lacs band of Chippewa, the State of Minnesota refused to acknowledge these treaty rights and demanded that the Minne Lacs band stop exercising those rights and hunt within season like the rest of the residents of the state of Washington
With the affirmation of the United States Supreme Court that the Mille Lacs people retained their usufructuary rights, they continue to fish, hunt, and gather on the land that their ancestors had done the same on for centuries. They continue on those traditions and lifeways for the future generations of their people, so that they may survive.
The State of Minnessota filed a case against the Minne Lacs Band, in an attempt to get the courts to officially dis-establish these treaty rights. Their arguments were that the Minne Lacs lost usufracturary rights due to an executive order in 1850, another treaty made in 1855, and the admission of Minnesota into the union in 1858
In a vigorously dissented 5-4 opinion, the supreme court re-affirmed the Minne Lacs usufructuary rights, determining that all of the three reasons Minnesota brought forth were all ineffective in dis-establishing the Minne Lacs usufructuary rights