Here is the petition: Rosales Cert Petition
The unpublished Federal Circuit decision is here.
The questions presented are:
This Court holds that the Indian Reorganization Act (“IRA”), 25 U.S.C. §479, “limits the Secretary’s authority to taking land into trust for the purpose of providing land to members of a tribe that was under federal jurisdiction when the IRA was enacted in June 1934.” Carcieri v. Salazar (“Carcieri”), 129 S.Ct. 1058, 1061 (2009), now followed by the District of Columbia Circuit in Patchak v. Salazar (“Patchak”), No.09-5324,2011 WL 192495 (D.C. Cir. 2011).
Here, the Federal Circuit held in conflict with these decisions, that whether the tribe was under Federal jurisdiction in 1934 was irrelevant, in determining whether the tribe became a beneficial owner of Indian trust land. The questions presented are:
1. Must a court decide whether a tribe was under Federal jurisdiction in 1934, whenever a tribe claims an interest in Indian trust land adverse to a state or individual’s interest in that property?
2. Must a court decide whether a tribe was under Federal jurisdiction in 1934, when determining the timeliness of Petitioners’ Tucker Act claims that the tribe never became a beneficial owner of Indian trust land?
3. Must a court decide whether a tribe was under Federal jurisdiction in 1934, in determining whether the tribe was a required, but absent party, claiming an interest in Petitioners’ beneficial interest in trust property?
An excerpt from the lower court decision:
The appellants contend that the decision of the Supreme Court in Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. —-, 129 S. Ct. 1058 (2009), controls this case and requires reversal of the Court of Federal Claim’s decision. Carcieri, however, has nothing to do with the present case.
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