Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe v. Madore (Mille Lacs County)

What happened

In Article 2 of the 1855 Treaty with the Chippewa, the United States set apart nine reservations from the ceded territory for the bands that signed it, as "permanent homes." The lands set apart for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, a federally recognized tribe, were among them. Whether that reservation was later disestablished, the Eighth Circuit wrote, "has been hotly contested but never resolved in the Band's favor for approximately 150 years."

For years the Band exercised concurrent law enforcement authority under Minnesota law through a cooperative agreement with the county sheriff. After the County revoked that agreement, the County Attorney issued an Opinion and Protocol limiting what Band officers could lawfully do. The Band and two tribal officers sued Mille Lacs County, the County Attorney and the Sheriff in 2017. The district court issued orders on March 4, 2022 and January 10, 2023, and the County defendants appealed.

While the appeal was pending, the Minnesota Legislature amended the statute, effective July 1, 2023, to give the Band unqualified law enforcement jurisdiction over all persons within the 1855 treaty boundaries in Mille Lacs County. On February 12, 2025, the Eighth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Loken, held the appeals moot and remanded with directions to vacate those orders.

Judge Erickson concurred specially. He joined the mootness holding but not Part IV, and wrote that whether the treaties and the Nelson Act disestablished the reservation "remain open to be decided at some future date."

Good to know. The appeals court ruled only that the appeals were moot; it did not decide whether the reservation was disestablished.

Summarized with AI assistance from 4 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error