Chinook Tribe Back In Court On Long Quest To Regain Federal Recognition

The decades-long quest of Chinook tribal members to regain federal recognition gets another airing in court on Monday. A U.S. District Court judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments on cross-claims for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by the tribe against the Department of the Interior.

Pacific Northwest members of Congress have shown interest in introducing legislation to confer federal recognition, but the most recent efforts by U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) were sidetracked by an inter-tribal dispute. In 2014, 2015 and 2017, Bonamici proposed to recognize the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes of Oregon. That drew objections from the Chinook council, which repeatedly said the Clatsop people belong under the wider umbrella of the Chinook Indian Nation. Each of Bonamici's bills died in committee without a hearing.