Page:Herrera v. Wyoming, 587 U. S. (2019) (slip opinion).pdf/32

Rh killed in Bighorn and were able to locate the sites where the pictures had been taken. At those sites, about a mile south of the fence running along the Bighorn National Forest boundary, state officials discovered elk carcasses. The heads had been taken from the carcasses but much of the meat was abandoned in the field. State officials confronted Herrera, who confessed to the shootings and turned over the heads that he and his companions had taken as trophies. The Wyoming officials cited Herrera for hunting out of season.

Herrera moved to dismiss the citations, arguing that he had a treaty right to hunt in Bighorn. The trial court rejected this argument, concluding that it was foreclosed by the Tenth Circuit’s analysis in Repsis, and the jury found Herrera guilty. On appeal, Herrera continued to argue that he had a treaty right to hunt in Bighorn. The appellate court held that the judgment in Repsis precluded him from asserting a treaty hunting right, and it also held, in the alternative, that Herrera’s treaty rights did not allow him to hunt in Bighorn. This Court granted certiorari.

In seeking review in this Court, Herrera framed this case as implicating only a question of treaty interpretation. But unless the state court was wrong in holding that Herrera is bound by the judgment in Repsis, there is no reason to reach the treaty-interpretation question. For this reason, I would begin with the question of issue preclusion, and because I believe that Herrera is bound by the adverse decision on that issue in Repsis, I would not reach the treaty-interpretation issue.

It is “a fundamental precept of common-law adjudication” that “an issue once determined by a competent court