White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Williams

I respectfully dissent.

There are three separate and independent bases to support the district court’s award of attorney’s fees to the Tribe under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 (1982). The Tribe has raised civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982) sufficient to support the section 1988 award based upon (1) Arizona’s alleged violations of the federal laws regulating the harvest and sale of reservation timber, 25 U.S.C. §§ 406-407, 466 (1982); (2) its alleged due process violations; and (3) its alleged equal protection violations by the state.

The Tribe raised these claims in its district court…