Felix Frankfurter

“ It was determined, after some debate, to be the best way of ensuring that statehood would neither extinguish nor establish claims by Indians against the United States. If lands subject to the claim of Indian rights were transferred to the State, the Indians were not thereby to lose the right to make claims against the United States for damages. ”

“ The United States wisely abandoned its position that Alaska has disclaimed the power to legislate with respect to any fishing activities of Indians in the State. Legislative history reveals no such intention in Congress, which was concerned with the protection of certain Indian claims in existence at the time of statehood. ”

“ As the United States spread westward, it became evident that there was no place where the Indians could be forever isolated. In recognition of this fact the United States began to consider the Indians less as foreign nations and more as a part of our country. ”

“ The impact of the catch of eleven traps on the fisheries of Southeastern Alaska is considerable from the point of view of conservation. The season's catch of a gill net or purse seine fisherman in the same area might run from 2,000 to 10,000 fish respectively. The discrimination against all fishermen, natives and whites alike, resulting from the Secretary's 1959 regulation, creates social problems for the state which it is powerless to remedy if the Secretary's claimed right is upheld. ”

“ The destruction caused by fish traps is notorious. Mr. Justice Van Devanter, conservationist as well as jurist, described an Alaskan fish trap [3] designed 'to catch about 600,000 salmon in a single season,' a trap which 'will tend materially to reduce the natural supply of fish accessible to the Indians.' Alaska Pacific Fisheries Co. ”

“ A stay is not needed to protect rights that may arise from future Regulations, as in the Metlakatla case, for any administrative power of the Secretary of the Interior to allow the Kake and Angoon Indians to use traps is lacking. ”

“ Justice Brennan, and continued by the Court, will remain in force until the end of the 1962 salmon fishing season, as defined in the regulations issued by the Secretary of the Interior. It is so ordered. ”

“ They are occupied by Thlinget or Tlinget Indians, native to Alaska.
Both communities are entirely dependent upon salmon fishing. In pursuance of a policy to create a sound fishing economy for the two groups, the United States purchased canneries and related properties for Angoon in 1948 and for Kake in 1950. Since these dates appellants have operated fish traps at specified locations in nearby waters, under permits granted by the Army Engineers to erect traps in navigable waters and by the United States Forest Service to anchor them in the Tongass National Forest. ”

“ In that motion it is said:
'The 1962 fishing season in Alaska begins in July, 1962. To prepare for this fishing season, Appellants must commit large sums of money for materials and supplies, including wire, netting, and cannery equipment. A large portion of these materials must be ordered not later than January, 1962. If Appellants' right to fish with traps were not to be upheld, their investment would be wasted. ”

“ The provisions now found in 25 U.S.C. §§ 2 and 9, 25 U.S.C.A. §§ 2, 9, referring to the President's power to prescribe regulations for effectuating statutes 'relating to Indian affairs,' to settle accounts of 'Indian affairs,' and concerning 'the management of all Indian affairs and of all matters arising out of Indian relations,' derive from statutes of 1832 and 1834, 4 Stat. ”

“ Senator Gruening describes the 'jigger':↑ James Wickersham, delegate in Congress from Alaska, testified in 1914 as to the start of the depletion of the salmon:↑ 'A trap fishes in the night when the man sleeps; it employs less men than other kinds of gear; it is a labor-saving device * * *.' Hearings on S. 5856, supra, note 3, at 389.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105) . ”

“ The applicability of state law, we there said, depends upon 'whether the state action infringed on the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them,' 358 U.S. at 220, 79 S.Ct. at 271. Another recent statement of the governing principle was made in a decision reaffirming the authority of a State to punish crimes committed by non-Indians against non-Indians on reservations: ' (I) n the absence of a limiting treaty obligation or Congressional enactment, each state had a right to exercise jurisdiction over Indian reservations within its boundaries,' New York ex rel. ”