A non-Indian man has filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the state of Montana's reservation hunting law.

The law restricts hunting within reservation boundaries to tribal members. Non-tribal members cannot hunt on reservation land, whether it is held in trust or in fee status.

Randy V. Roberts claims the law violates his constitutional rights based on race. His mother owns 1,500 acres of fee land on the Crow Reservation on which he cannot hunt.

Roberts has hired the Mountain States Legal Foundation to fight the case. The group, which formerly employed Interior Secretary Gale Norton, has challenged sacred site protections but has lost every case.

In 2002, a non-Indian woman challenged the same law but she lost before the Montana Supreme Court. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied.

Get the Story:
Indian-only state hunting law challenged (The Billings Gazette 12/9)

Sandra Shook Culing: State v. Shook, No. 99-608 (December 30, 2002)

Related Stories:
Supreme Court turns down non-Indian hunting case (10/10)
Supreme Court Roundup: October 2003 (10/07)