Legal Eagles Take Sides in Wyoming Boundary Dispute

Established in 1868, Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation ranks as one of the largest reservations in the Lower 48 with more than 2.2 million acres. But a 1905 decision to cede portions of the reservation to settlers has emerged at the center of a contentious court battle involving the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes versus the State of Wyoming. The Eastern Shoshone have enlisted former Obama Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and former Clinton Solicitor General Seth Waxman, and the Northern Arapaho have retained the services of former Bush Solicitor General Paul Clement. According to the Eastern Shoshone’s brief, Congress allowed the sale of some of the reservation lands, but it didn’t express a clear intent to reduce the overall size of the Wind River reservation.