United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Organized Village of Kake v. Egan, 369 U.S. 60 (1962)

Organized Village of Kake v. Egan

No. 3

Argued December 14, 1961

Decided March 5, 1962

369 U.S. 60

Syllabus

Appellants are incorporated communities of Thlinget Indians in Alaska. No reservation has been established for them. They operate salmon traps under permits issued by the Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Forest Service and regulations issued by the Secretary of the Interior. They sued to enjoin threatened enforcement against them of a statute of the State of Alaska forbidding the use of salmon traps. Their suit was dismissed, and the State Supreme Court affirmed.

Held:

1. The permits issued by the Corps of Engineers and the Forest Service do not exempt these salmon traps from state law. Pp. 369 U. S. 63-64.

2. Congress has neither authorized the use contrary to state law of the salmon traps here involved nor empowered the Secretary of the Interior to do so, and the judgment is affirmed. Pp. 369 U. S. 62-76.

3. However, in view of all the circumstances and in order to avoid hardship, the stay heretofore granted will remain in force until the end of the 1962 salmon fishing season. P. 369 U. S. 76.

___ Alaska ___, 362 P. 2d 901, affirmed.

Page 369 U. S. 61