The Supreme Court has declined to take up the state of Alaska’s challenge to long-standing precedent concerning subsistence fishing by Alaska Natives.
With the Trump administration weighing in on behalf of the tribes and Native communities, the court announced Monday that it was denying Alaska’s bid for a full-blown review of a lower court’s decision that took an expansive view of subsistence fishing claims.
The denial leaves intact a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. More broadly, it sustains an Alaska Native-empowering precedent set through a complicated court history commonly known as the Katie John line of cases.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, cited this precedent as she applauded the court’s decision not to reopen the case.
