## Facts

- Members of the Lake Superior Chippewa held off-reservation hunting and fishing rights reserved by the 1837 and 1842 treaties, including spring nighttime spearfishing in northern Wisconsin waters.
- Beginning around 1988, Stop Treaty Abuse-Wisconsin, Inc. (STA), its leader, and supporters organized protests at boat landings and lakes during spearfishing seasons.
- Protest activity included blocking landings and access roads, assembling boats to obstruct launches, endangering spearers on the water, shining lights into spearers’ eyes, and using racial slurs and derogatory depictions of Indians.
- Plaintiffs alleged STA participants assaulted, battered, threatened, and physically obstructed tribal members and their families to prevent the exercise of treaty fishing rights.
- Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief under federal civil-rights statutes and related theories; the court initially entered a preliminary injunction restricting violent and obstructive conduct near landings and spearers.
- After further proceedings and appellate direction to make explicit findings on discriminatory motivation, the district court addressed whether the interference was racially motivated and whether § 1982 applied to the conduct.

## Issues

1. Whether tribal treaty-based spearfishing rights constitute a property interest protected by 42 U.S.C. § 1982’s guarantee of an equal right to “hold” and enjoy real and personal property.
2. Whether STA and its members, acting as private parties, violated § 1982 by using threats, violence, and obstruction to interfere with the exercise of those rights.
3. Whether the challenged conduct was motivated by racial bias against Indians, rather than nonracial opposition to treaty rights.
4. What injunctive terms could prevent violence and obstruction while preserving lawful expressive activity in public areas.

## Decision

- The court held that defendants violated 42 U.S.C. § 1982 by engaging in racially motivated interference with plaintiffs’ exercise of treaty-protected spearfishing rights.
- The court found the record contained extensive evidence of racial animus, including racial epithets, stereotyped literature, and selective targeting of Indian spearers.
- The court concluded that the conduct—assaults, threats, blocking access, dangerous boating, and coordinated obstruction—interfered with plaintiffs’ ability to use and enjoy the property interests associated with treaty rights.
- The court entered permanent injunctive relief restraining STA and its leadership from violent, threatening, and obstructive activities at and around boat landings and on waters during spearfishing operations, using buffer-zone restrictions to reduce confrontation while permitting nonviolent expression outside restricted areas.

## Legal Principles

- 42 U.S.C. § 1982 protects citizens’ equal right, as enjoyed by white citizens, to “hold” and enjoy real and personal property.
- Treaty-reserved usufructuary rights to hunt and fish can constitute enforceable property interests for purposes of § 1982.
- Section 1982 reaches private conduct when the interference with protected property rights is racially motivated.
- Physical obstruction, threats, and violence aimed at preventing the exercise of protected property rights can constitute actionable interference with the right to “hold” property.
- Equitable relief may restrict conduct and impose reasonable distance limitations to prevent intimidation and obstruction while leaving room for lawful, nonviolent speech.

## Conclusion

The court applied § 1982 to protect Chippewa treaty spearfishing from private, racially motivated intimidation and obstruction, finding discriminatory intent and entering a permanent injunction targeted at preventing violence and interference while allowing lawful protest outside defined limits.


Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Stop Treaty Abuse-Wisconsin, Inc., 843 F. Supp. 1284 (W.D. Wis. 1994)