K&L Gates Secures Victory for Duwamish Tribe in Federal Recognition Lawsuit

Global law firm K&L Gates LLP secured a win for the Duwamish Tribe in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington. The court ordered the US Department of Interior to reconsider the Tribe’s petition for federal recognition, marking a significant step in the Duwamish Tribe's ongoing journey.

This ruling is a victory for the Duwamish Tribe, granting it the remand the Tribe requested when it filed this lawsuit in May 2022. The order vacates the Interior Department's prior ruling, allows the Tribe to submit new evidence, and orders the Department to “reevaluate its factual conclusions, including its conclusion about whether Plaintiffs embody a continuation of the historic Duwamish tribe.” The new evidence the Tribe will submit will help to demonstrate that the Duwamish Tribe is the continuation of the historical Duwamish Tribe that signed the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott.

The court said that “it understands Plaintiffs’ frustration with the extreme delays” in the Duwamish Tribe’s nearly 50-year quest for restoration of its recognition but hopes that “remand may present a quicker solution.” The court relied on the legal principle that “an agency ought to receive an opportunity to correct its own mistakes.”

The Duwamish Tribe is represented by K&L Gates Seattle partners Bart Freedman, Theo Angelis, Ben Mayer, Tim Hobbs, and Endre Szalay, along with associates Isabella Forcino, Tyler Lichter, Courtney Neufeld, and Natalie Reid.

Freedman commented: “Chief Si'ahl (Seattle) signed the Treaty of Point Elliott on behalf of both Duwamish and Suquamish Tribes in 1855, and since that time, the Duwamish Tribe has relied on the commitments the United States made to the Duwamish Tribe. For nearly 50 years, the Tribe has pursued reinstatement of its federal recognition. The Duwamish Tribe entered into government-to-government relationship with the United States, and the Tribe needs its federal recognition restored to protect that relationship and to ensure that the members of the Tribe receive access to the federal programs and benefits the United States promised in 1855.”

“We are extremely grateful and truly blessed to be working with K&L Gates,” said Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe. “This is a great result for the Duwamish Tribe. We are encouraged by the judge’s order. We are the Duwamish—the People of the Inside—and we are still here in Seattle. Come to our Longhouse and learn the history of the First People of Seattle.”