The position is with the Executive Branch. Announcement here (pdf).
Author: Kate Fort
Fantastic News: Rebecca Tsosie Scholarship Created
From the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law website:
A new scholarship named for Professor Rebecca Tsosie, currently on sabbatical leave from the Indian Legal Program, has been established with a $10,000 pledge from Dr. Gary Weiss and his wife, Cathleen, the parents of Melissa Dempsey, who graduated from the program in May 2011.
The Rebecca Tsosie Spirit of Excellence Award will be given each year to the student who is most committed to the ideals of the program and plans to serve the legal needs of Native communities.
Weiss said Tsosie was a great influence on his daughter’s life, and her choice to attend the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
“The first time we visited ASU, we met Professor Tsosie and I was extremely impressed,” Weiss said. “She was very helpful talking about the school and community and excited and energetic. When we walked out of that meeting, I turned to Melissa and said, ‘There’s no question this is the place you should go. We don’t need to look any further.’
“In the following three years, I continued to be impressed, and we wanted to do whatever we could to help other students have the same experience, to have enough money that they could participate in a law journal without having to worry about where every single penny was coming from.”
Supreme Court Grants Cert in Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band v. Patchak
The order list is here. Additional commentary on the case is likely.
In the same order, The Court CVSG’d Corboy v. Louie and denied the motion in San Carlos Apache Tribe v. United States to file a writ of cert out of time.
Washington Supreme Court Finds State Has Jurisdiction in Washington v. Comenout
Previous materials here.
Opinion here.
ALEXANDER, J.—The primary issue presented by this case is whether the State of Washington has jurisdiction over members of Indian tribes who sell unstamped cigarettes without a license at a store that is located on trust allotment land that is outside the boundaries of an Indian reservation. We conclude that the State does possess jurisdiction in such cases, and, thus, we affirm the trial court’s denial of the motion of the defendants herein to dismiss the charges against them.
Andrew Cohen Named 60 Minutes Legal Analyst
Columbia Law School Conference Honoring Prof. Derrick Bell This Saturday
via Constitutional Law Prof Blog (link includes schedule of events):
“A Living, Working Faith”:
Remembering Our Colleague
Derrick A. Bell, Jr.
at COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, NY, NY on Saturday December 10th, 2011
This one day conference organized by Professors Kendall Thomas and Penelope Andrews will honor the work of the late ConLawProf Derrick Bell.
This looks to be an excellent conference.
Cherokee Nation v. Ketchum Cert Petition — ICWA Membership Issue
The Cherokee Nation and Britney Jane Little Dove Nielson (child’s mother) have filed a petition for cert in the Supreme Court of the Tenth Circuit’s controversial decision to override the Cherokee Nation’s law establishing automatic temporary citizenship for all children born to Cherokee descendents when determining whether a child was an “Indian child” for the purposes of ICWA.
The Cert Petition is here. Previous materials on this case are here. Dean Leeds earlier commentary on this case is here. While the likelihood the Court grants cert is slim, this is an incredibly important case implicating not just ICWA determinations but tribal citizenship requirements, and the respect granted them in federal courts, in general.
Blue Lake Rancheria v. Morgenstern Order Denying Dismissal
The case regarding state unemployment taxes under FUTA will continue in the Eastern District of California. The Order is here.
Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma v. U.S. Dismissed Under U.S. v. Tohono O’Odham Nation
The order from the Court of Federal Claims is here.
By statute this court lacks jurisdiction over any suit “for or in respect to” claims that are pending in another court. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss contends that plaintiff’s previously-filed district court complaint shares substantially the same operative facts as this, the second-filed action. For the following reasons, because plaintiff’s district court litigation was pending at the time the instant matter was filed, and was “for or in respect to the same claim,” applying 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (2006) as recently clarified by United States v. Tohono O’Odham Nation, 131 S. Ct. 1723 (2011), defendant’s Motion is GRANTED.
The Appendix, included in the order, gives a side by side comparison of the two claims.
Yet Another Michigan Conditional Affirmation ICWA Case
In re King/Little, here.
From the opinion:
Petitioner responds to this issue by stating that, after respondent signed the form indicating that the children were eligible for membership in the Cherokee Tribe, it did comply with the requirements of the ICWA by sending the proper notice to both the Cherokee Boys Club and the Cherokee Nation. Petitioner contends it received responses from both organizations indicating that the children were not considered “Indian” in the Cherokee Nation and were not eligible for membership. Petitioner further contends that all the proper paperwork is on file at the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and the Department of Human Services and invites this Court to view the failure to place this information on the trial court record as harmless error. However, we may not expand the record on appeal. MCR 7.210(A)(1).
Cherokee Boys Club?!? After all these years, how many different ways can DHS mess up notice and still defend their practice? There are only three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, and not one of them is the Cherokee Boys Club.
Turtle Talk 
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