Interesting that a regional court with no native tribal peoples on it should have the last word on a treaty definition. I was under the opinion that only Congress could define treaties.
With the United States Supreme Court declining to hear the case, a protracted legal battle between two Indigenous communities has nowhere to go. ….For the past 30 years two groups, the Lummi Nation and the S’Klallam nations—represented today by the Jamestown S’Klallam, Port Gamble S’Klallam, and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribes—have been fighting in the courts about a contested slice of the Salish Sea: the waters west of Whidbey Island in northwestern Washington. Involved in this dizzying dispute are no fewer than four tribes, two treaties, and four appellate court decisions. The issue was recently brought to the United States Supreme Court for consideration, though the court declined to hear the case, leaving the Lummi and S’Klallam without an obvious legal path forward. Ashley Braun reports. (Hakai Magazine)
A 30-Year-Long Fishing Dispute Fizzles Out https://hakaimagazine.com/news/a-30-year-long-fishing-dispute-fizzles-out/