United States v. Frank Long

DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge.

The narrow question in this case is whether Frank Long, a member of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, can be prosecuted by the United States for the same conduct that was the subject of an earlier tribal prosecution. In order to resolve that issue, however, we must consider the scope of the sovereignty the Menominee Tribe currently enjoys. If the Menominee prosecution is properly characterized as one flowing from independent sovereign powers, then there is no Double Jeopardy bar to the subsequent federal prosecution. If, on the other hand, the Menominee were…