Judge: Issue Preclusion Halts Washington Tribe’s Bid For Hunting Rights Ruling

Mealey's (March 19, 2020, 2:27 PM EDT) -- TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington Indian tribe cannot seek a declaration that it is a signatory to an 1855 treaty and that its members still have the treaty-given right to hunt anywhere in the state because its treaty rights were already determined in prior litigation, a federal judge decided March 18 in dismissing the tribe’s case (Snoqualmie Indian Tribe v. Washington, No. 3:19-cv-06227, W.D. Wash., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47160)....