Menominee Tribe of Indians v. United States

In an 1854 treaty, the Menominee Tribe (plaintiff) gave up other land in exchange for the Wolf River reservation and retained the right to live there as before, including hunting and fishing. In 1962, Wisconsin began enforcing its own hunting and fishing regulations against the Menominee, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the Menominee Indian Termination Act of 1954 had ended federal authority over the tribe, including its treaty hunting and fishing rights. Because they could no longer hunt and fish freely, the Menominee sued in the Court of Claims for compensation for the lost rights; that court held the Act had not eliminated those rights, creating a conflict with the Wisconsin Supreme Court's ruling.