Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the four liberal justices in a 5-4 tribal rights decision on Monday, the Washington Examiner reported.
The ruling upheld a Native American man’s hunting rights under a 19th-century treaty. The four other conservatives on the court voted against the decision.
Clayvin Herrera, a member of the Crow Tribe, was charged in 2014 for off-season hunting in the Bighorn National Forest, but argued that an 1868 treaty between the tribe and Wyoming allowed him to hunt any time of the year.
Wyoming countered that the treaty was nullified in 1890 when it became a state, a position with which lower courts agreed.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of four justices appointed by Democratic presidents, wrote in the majority opinion there isn’t “any evidence in the treaty itself that Congress intended the hunting right to expire at statehood, or that the Crow Tribe would have understood it to do so.”
The Supreme Court also ruled against Wyoming's argument that Bighorn National Forest was not "unoccupied lands" as required under the treaty, according to The Hill.
In March, Gorsuch also sided with liberal-leaning justices on another case involving Native American rights and even wrote a concurring opinion in the case, according to the Washington Examiner.
Gorsuch, who was nominated for the court in 2017 by President Donald Trump, is from Colorado and had received backing from Native American organizations, which cited his opinions on tribal sovereignty.
There is another upcoming major decision expected from the court out of Oklahoma dealing with Native American rights, according to NPR.
However, Gorsuch is recused from that case, which means it could result in a deadlock.
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