Mealey's Native American Law

  • December 21, 2023

    Federal Agencies Say Utah, Counties Lack Standing In National Monuments Case

    DENVER — Federal agencies have filed a brief in the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals arguing that the state of Utah and two counties that oppose President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decision to reinstate the original dimensions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments have not established standing to challenge his decision under the Antiquities Act.

  • December 15, 2023

    N.D. Federal Judge: Federal Government Was Required To Issue Permit To Protestors

    BISMARCK, N.D. — The discretionary function exception of the Federal Torts Claim Act (FTCA) is not available to the United States for claims brought by North Dakota that it negligently caused damages by allowing protestors of the Dakota Access pipeline to illegally occupy federal land because the government had a mandatory duty to issue a special use permit under the circumstances, a North Dakota federal judge found in granting North Dakota’s motion for partial summary judgment.

  • December 14, 2023

    Magistrate Judge: Tribal Court Has Sovereign Immunity From Civil Rights Claims

    MOSCOW, Idaho — The Nez Perce Tribal Court is entitled to sovereign immunity from claims brought by a man who argued that he was twice deprived of a fair trial because the Tribal Court is an extension of the Nex Perce Tribe, an Idaho federal magistrate judge found in granting the Tribal Court’s motion to dismiss.

  • December 13, 2023

    Lease For Campground On Tribal Land Was Terminated, Montana Federal Judge Says

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A lease agreement between a company and the Blackfeet Indian Nation for a campground on tribal land was terminated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) when the company failed to timely make its payments, and it was not revived or later implied in fact because the agreement is governed by federal regulations, not general principles of contract law, a Montana federal judge found in granting the tribe’s motion for summary judgment.

  • December 13, 2023

    Tribal Panel Vacates Trial Court Decision Regarding Casino Loan Default Dispute

    MIDDLE VERDE, Ariz. — The Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Court erred in denying a motion to dismiss a complaint brought by the Yavapai-Apache Nation (YAN) against the La Posta Band of Diegueno Mission Indians for the latter’s alleged negligent misrepresentation used to secure a loan to fund a casino that eventually failed because a California state jury already determined that no misrepresentation occurred, a Yavapai-Apache Nation Court of Appeals panel found Dec. 12 in vacating the Tribal Court’s judgment.

  • December 12, 2023

    Washington Federal Judge: Sackett Decision Didn’t Affect CWA Consent Decree

    SEATTLE — The U.S. Supreme Court’s adoption of a definition of wetlands for the purposes of the Clean Water Act (CWA) did not constitute a significant change in circumstances that warranted revision of a consent decree entered between the United States, an Indian tribe and two companies over the companies’ alleged illegal discharges of dredged and fill material into protected waters because the definition was previously unchallenged in the case, a Washington federal judge found in denying the companies’ motion to vacate or modify the consent decree.

  • December 11, 2023

    Dispute Over N.Y. School’s Use Of Native American Imagery Is Moot, Panel Finds

    ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York appeals court panel found that a dispute over a public school’s use of Native American nicknames and symbols for its sports teams is now moot because recent state regulations forbid any public school in the state from using such imagery except for the purposes of education.

  • December 11, 2023

    9th Circuit: Major Crimes Act Does Not Discriminate Against Native Americans

    SEATTLE — The Major Crimes Act (MCA) does not discriminate against Native Americans on the basis of race but instead reflects the unique status of Native Americans within the legal system, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in affirming the conviction of a man who was prosecuted under the MCA.

  • December 11, 2023

    In Health Care Dispute, Michigan Federal Judge Denies Tribe’s Motion For Default

    BAY CITY, Mich. — The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is not entitled to default judgment against a health insurance provider that allegedly violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by improperly administering two health insurance plans because the tribe failed to show that the providers’ failure to comply with discovery orders was due to willfulness, bad faith or fault, a Michigan federal judge found in denying the tribe’s renewed motion for default judgment.

  • December 11, 2023

    Sheriff Must Respond To Petition Of Man Convicted In Tribal Court, Judge Says

    RENO, Nev. — The sheriff of a county that is holding a man who was convicted by a tribal court must respond to the man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under the immediate custodian rule, a Nevada federal judge found in an order disposing of three motions.

  • December 08, 2023

    Claims Court Judge: Fact Issues Exist About Tribe’s Claims Over Agency Building

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States is not entitled to summary judgment on breach of trust and constitutional taking claims raised by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe because questions of fact exist regarding the status of an agency building on tribal land the tribe claims the government abandoned, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims court judge found in partly denying the United States’ motion for summary judgment.

  • December 08, 2023

    Sheriff Must Respond To Petition Of Man Convicted In Tribal Court, Judge Says

    RENO, Nev. — The sheriff of a county that is holding a man who was convicted by a tribal court must respond to the man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus under the immediate custodian rule, a Nevada federal judge found in an order disposing of three motions.

  • December 08, 2023

    Groups Seek Emergency Relief From 9th Circuit In Ongoing Willow Project Opposition

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Native Alaskan group and environmental advocates have filed an emergency motion in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals seeking injunctive relief to avoid “the imminent, irreparable destruction of Arctic wetlands and tundra, and harms to wildlife and people” they say will be the result of ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc.’s construction of the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

  • December 08, 2023

    Montana Federal Judge Abstains From Considering Native American Man’s Claims

    MISSOULA, Mont. — Performing an in forma pauperis review of a complaint filed by a Native American man who said he did not consent to being prosecuted in state traffic court and received ineffective assistance of counsel in state and tribal court, a Montana federal judge dismissed the claims because abstention was warranted in this instance.

  • December 06, 2023

    Judge Denies Injunction, Rules Willow Project Construction Activities May Proceed

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge in Alaska has denied motions for an injunction pending appeal of her decision to dismiss claims brought by groups that oppose the Willow Project, a hydraulic fracturing operation in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, ruling that the groups failed to satisfy “the Winter factors” and “have not raised a serious question going to the merits.”

  • December 01, 2023

    Tribal Panel: Court Lacks Jurisdiction To Decide If Prisoners Are ‘Indian Persons’

    POPLAR, Mont. — Whether two defendants currently being detained by the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation are “Indian persons” and thus subject to the Fort Peck Tribal Court’s criminal jurisdiction is a factual issue that must be determined by the trier of fact, a Fort Peck Court of Appeals panel found in staying consideration of the two defendants’ petitions for writ of habeas corpus.

  • December 01, 2023

    Tribal Appellate Court: Trial Court Did Not Err In Issuing Custody Order

    POPLAR, Mont. — A Fort Peck Court of Appeals panel of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes found that a trial court did not err in granting physical custody to the father of a child who allegedly has a history of drug abuse and domestic violence because the trial court’s decision was supported by sufficient factual findings.

  • December 01, 2023

    Tribal Appellate Court Vacates Criminal Conviction Based On Hearsay Evidence

    POPLAR, Mont. — The Fort Peck Court of Appeals of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes vacated a man’s theft and burglary conviction because the tribes’ prosecution was based “almost entirely” on hearsay testimony consisting of a Facebook post and a previously recorded interview with a woman who was not available for cross-examination at trial.

  • November 27, 2023

    Golf Course Is Arm Of Tribe, Entitled To Tribal Immunity, Washington Panel Finds

    SEATTLE — A company that owns and operates a golf course is entitled to sovereign immunity from a personal injury suit brought by a man who was injured on the course because the company is an arm of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, a Washington panel found in affirming a trial court’s judgment dismissing the case.

  • November 27, 2023

    Montana Federal Judge Grants Prisoners’ Habeas Corpus Petition Against Tribe

    GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A man sentenced to more than a year in prison by the courts of the Blackfeet Nation was denied effective assistance of counsel because the tribe sentenced him without the presence of counsel, a Montana federal judge found in granting the man’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

  • November 27, 2023

    United States Urges Supreme Court To Deny Review Of Klamath Water Suit Removal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States says the U.S. Supreme Court should deny a certiorari petition in which the Klamath Irrigation District seeks a writ of mandate to remand to state court its lawsuit asserting primary jurisdiction over the Bureau of Reclamation’s operation of the Kalmath Project and minimum water levels to comply with the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to benefit two Native American tribes.

  • November 20, 2023

    Supreme Court Grants Cert For Funding Dispute Between Tribes, HHS

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 20 granted two petitions for certiorari filed by the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to determine whether the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA) requires the Indian Health Service (IHS) to pay “contract support costs” for expenditures of income collected by Indian tribes from third parties under federal self-determination contracts.

  • November 14, 2023

    Michigan Federal Judge Adopts Recommendation, Dismisses Claims Against Tribal Judge

    MARQUETTE, Mich. — A Michigan federal judge adopted a report and recommendation in which a magistrate judge found that claims of due process and equal protection violations brought by a tribal lay advocate against a tribal judge and an attorney for allegedly conspiring against the advocate by not providing him notice of a tribal court hearing fail because the tribal judge has immunity and the attorney is not a state actor.

  • November 14, 2023

    Proposed Consent Decree Filed In Native American Bias Case Against S.D. Hotel

    RAPID CITY, S.D. — In South Dakota federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and owners and managers of a hotel jointly filed a proposed consent decree that would resolve the DOJ’s claims that the owners and managers violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against Native Americans.

  • November 14, 2023

    D.C. Federal Judge: Tribe Seeking Recognition Failed To Identify Final Action

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Native American tribe in Connecticut seeking federal acknowledgement failed to identify a reviewable final agency decision in its complaint brought against the U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA), a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting the OFA’s motion to dismiss.

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