"AUGUSTA, Maine — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined an appeal by the Penobscot Indian Nation in its fight with Maine over ownership and regulation of the tribe’s namesake river.

It was a bitter defeat for the tribe that sued a decade ago, claiming the Penobscot River is part of its reservation.

Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis said it was a disappointing outcome in a legal case that goes to the “core identity of the Penobscot Nation.”

“We see this as a modern day territorial removal by the state by trying to separate us from our ancestral ties to our namesake river,” Francis told The Associated Press."

David Sharp reports for the Associated Press April 19, 2022. [2]