A.P. 5-5.2015
Law professors from around the country are seeking to get involved in a legal dispute over whether Riverton and surrounding lands remain legally part of the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The state of Wyoming is appealing a recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that Riverton and surrounding lands kept its legal status as Indian Country despite congressional action 100 years ago opening the area to settlement by non-Indians.
Wyoming officials have said that a final determination in court that the disputed lands are Indian Country would affect provision of state services to non-Indian residents.
Eight professors who specialize in Indian law have asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to allow them to file a friend-of-the-court brief to argue that the Wyoming officials misstated the facts.