The state has asked that the case be reconsidered, saying the ruling would dramatically limit its ability to enforce laws on the Narragansetts' land.

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, September 25, 2005

BY KATIE MULVANEY
Journal Staff Writer

The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Congress of American Indians are backing the Narragansett tribe in challenging the state's raid on a tribal smoke shop.

The Rhode Island Affiliate of the ACLU, the national ACLU and the NCAI filed a friend-of-the-court brief Wednesday arguing that the highly publicized raid violated the tribe's sovereign rights.

"This case raises issues of enormous consequence for Indian tribes. We are hopeful that the court will agree that the state's heavy-handed raid was incompatible with long-standing principles of tribal sovereignty," Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU, said in a statement.

State police raided the shop in a violent clash on July 14, 2003, two days after the tribe began selling tax-free cigarettes over the state's objections.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in December 2003 that the tribe was bound by state tax and criminal laws and that the state was entitled to halt the sale of tax-free cigarettes. The tribe appealed that decision to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In May, a three-judge panel from the 1st Circuit found that the state violated the tribe's sovereignty when troopers executed a state search warrant on the shop, arrested tribal leaders, and seized cigarettes and cash. The judges concluded that the state could collect taxes on the tribe's cigarette sales to non-Indians, but that it must find other ways to enforce its laws.

The state asked the full court to rehear the case, claiming the ruling would dramatically limit its ability to enforce laws on the tribal land in Charlestown. The court agreed to reconsider the enforcement issues on Dec. 6.

The ACLU and NCAI hope to weigh in on the debate.

"The federal policy of leaving Indian tribes free from state jurisdiction and control is 'deeply rooted' in the nation's history," the brief notes.

"The tribe retains sufficient inherent sovereignty to preclude enforcement of the state's tax laws against the tribe. The state can no more impose its tax laws on the tribe than it could impose its laws on surrounding states," according to the brief.

Rhode Island remains free to collect taxes by other means, including by cooperative agreement with the tribe, the brief says.

"Tribal sovereignty and the substantial federal interests protecting it cannot be abrogated merely because a state chooses not to avail itself of existing mechanisms," the brief concludes.