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Supreme Court denies Penobscot appeal over namesake river
Law Center |
2022/04/17 14:04
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined an appeal by the Penobscot Indian Nation in its fight with Maine over ownership and regulation of the tribe’s namesake river.
It was a bitter defeat for the tribe that sued a decade ago, claiming the Penobscot River is part of its reservation.
Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis said it was a disappointing outcome in a legal case that goes to the “core identity of the Penobscot Nation.”
“We see this as a modern day territorial removal by the state by trying to separate us from our ancestral ties to our namesake river,” Francis told The Associated Press.
A federal judge previously ruled that the reservation includes islands of the river’s main stem, but not the waters. There were appeals to a panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of appeals, and then to the full appeals court.
On Monday, the nation’s top court without comment declined to hear the tribe’s appeals over river regulation.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills had no immediate comment on Monday.
The ruling came as the Maine Legislature was considering several measures that relate to tribal sovereignty.
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