1、CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Supreme Court Takes Indian Treaty Right-to-Travel Case October 25, 2018 On October 30, 2018, the Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments in Washington State Department of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc., a
2、challenge to a 2017 Washington Supreme Court decision interpreting the intersection of Washington States taxing authority with a right-to-travel provision in an 1855 treaty (1855 Yakama Treaty) between the United States and the Yakama Indian Nation (Tribe). The treaty provision guarantees the Tribe
3、a “right, in common with citizens of the United States, to travel upon all public highways.” In the decision under review, the Washington Supreme Court held that this provision insulates Cougar Den, Inc., (Cougar Den)a business owned by a tribal memberfrom having to pay a Washington State motor fuel
4、s tax on gasoline Cougar Den trucks into the state and resells to on-reservation retailers. Without the treaty language, as conceded by both parties in the litigation, the state could impose the motor fuels tax on Cougar Den. A decision by the Court in Cougar Den, therefore, is likely to delineate t
