The "Boldt Decision" (named after the judge who made the ruling) was officially the decision in United States v. Washington, a case heard <span>in the </span>United States District Court for the Western District of Washington<span> and the </span>United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1974.
The Treaty of Medicine Creek (1854) was one of several treaties in view, including the Treaty of Olympia (1855), Treaty of Point Elliott (1855), and the Point No Point Treaty (1855). Isaac Stevens was the governor of the Washington Territory, who had been involved in signing such treaties.
The Boldt Decision affirmed the fishing rights of Native American tribes in waters not located on their reservation lands, but where they had traditionally fished and held that the tribes were entitled to half the fish harvest from those waters each year.
