Chinook tribe gets its day in court

TACOMA — The Chinook Indian Nation is taking its fight for federal recognition into the courtroom. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Leighton heard oral arguments and will take the next two weeks to decide if the case moves forward.

The hearing comes after the Chinook hit the Interior Department with a lawsuit in 2017 to force the U.S. government to give the tribe federal status.

The department responded with a motion to dismiss the case. Leighton’s decision could dismiss the case outright or allow some claims to proceed.

Members of the Southwest Washington tribe, whose ancestral lands sit at the mouth of the Columbia River, gathered outside the federal courthouse in Tacoma on Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s unbearable to us,” said tribal Chairman Tony Johnson, “that our people on our own land are not even acknowledged.”

The battle for recognition is a familiar story for tribal members, who have been fighting for federal status for more than a century.

“The Chinook hired our first lawyers in 1899 to fight about our land issues at home,” Johnson said. “And here we are, all these years later, fighting this battle.”

The tribe was briefly recognized in 2001, but had its status revoked 18 months later by the George W. Bush administration.

Federal recognition would allow the Chinook to establish a reservation and gain native fishing rights.