U.S. Appeals Court to Hear old Ute Case
Published: Nov 12, 2006
By Deseret News, Lezlee E. Whiting For the Deseret Morning News
ROOSEVELT — Mixed-blood Indians whose names were stricken from the membership rolls of the Ute Indian Tribe some 55 years ago say an announcement by the U.S. Court of Appeals may open a door they thought had been closed.
The U.S. Court of Appeals late last month scheduled oral arguments for Dec. 11 in Washington, D.C., in a 2002 lawsuit involving hundreds of terminated members of the tribe's Uinta band who are seeking reinstatement as federally recognized members of the band.
Oranna Felter, the lead plaintiff in the case, was 17 at the time of her termination. The Roosevelt woman and her entire family had their names removed from the rolls of the Ute Indian Tribe in accordance with the Ute Partition Act of 1954. The lawsuit seeks to have the act repealed.
The partition created two classes of Utes — those who were defined as less than one-half Native American and who were removed from the tribe, and the "full-blood" Utes who kept their tribal status.
A total of 490 people, 260 of them children, were cut off from their Native American heritage during a time in the nation's history when the federal government was moving toward ending its oversight of Indian tribes.
In the history of U.S. Indian policies, the mixed-blood Uinta Utes are the only ones who have not yet regained their status as Native Americans. Members of other tribes that were terminated have since been reinstated.
"The fact that the Court of Appeals scheduled oral argument on the Felter appeal on its own motion indicates that the three-judge appellate panel wants to clarify the record before rendering its decision to affirm or reject Roberts' decision," said Dennis Chappabitty, an attorney in Sacramento, Calif., who is representing Felter and other plaintiffs.
He said the announcement that the court will hear the matter tells him that the judges see some substantial basis to reverse a judge's order last January to dismiss the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts, in dismissing the lawsuit, ruled that the statute of limitations had expired six years after Felter alleged government wrongdoing in 1954 and 1961.
Chappabitty argues that the majority of those terminated were children who had no control over what had happened to them. The Appellate Court must accept the case for review but is not obligated to hold oral arguments.
Heber attorney Mike Humiston, who has represented terminated Uinta band members in a number of civil and criminal matters in the justice system, said the questions the judges ask during the oral arguments will provide a good gauge of which way they are leaning.
"It means it's complex enough that they want to hear it," said Humiston. "It certainly holds the door open."