Sneak Preview of ANOTHER Benally-Singel-Fletcher Talk Later Today, This One Called “Are We Still NDN?”

Yes, it’s gonna be at least partially about equal protection matters post-Brackeen, so perhaps it should be called “Shitting On Our Parade.” [comic book here]

Sneak Preview of Benally-Singel-Fletcher Conversation about Contract Law @ Columbia Law School Later Today

Can’t promise what’s gonna transpire, but happy to share some images. . . . full comic here.

Montana Law Releases National NALSA Moot Court Competition Problem

Here.

The National Native American Law Student Association (NNALSA), in partnership with the University of Montana, Alexander Blewett III School of Law NALSA Chapter, are excited to host the 32nd Annual NNALSA Moot Court Competition.

Registration Opens Friday, November 3rd, 2023 at 12:00 a.m. MST

Wyoming Federal Court Confirms Energy Company’s Arbitration Award against Wind River Tribes

Here are the materials in Merit Energy Operations I LLC v. Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes (D. Wyo.):

1 Petition to Confirm Arbitration Award

16 Motion to Dismiss

20 Opposition

31 Reply

32 DCT Order

New Student Scholarship on Trust Land Acquisitions for Alaska Tribal Nations

Alexis Studler has posted “Reviving Indian Country: Expanding Alaska Native Villages’ Tribal Land Bases Through Fee-to-Trust Acquisitions,” forthcoming in the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

For the last fifty years, the possibility of fee-to-trust acquisitions in Alaska has been precarious at best. This is largely due to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA), which eschewed the traditional reservation system in favor of corporate land ownership and management. Despite its silence on trust acquisitions, ANCSA was and still is cited as the primary prohibition to trust acquisitions in Alaska. Essentially, ANCSA both reduced Indian Country in Alaska and prohibited any opportunities to create it, leaving Alaska Native Villages without the significant territorial jurisdiction afforded to Lower 48 tribes. However, recent policy changes from the Department of Interior reaffirmed the eligibility of trust acquisitions post-ANCSA and a proposed rule from the Bureau of Indian Affairs signals a favorable presumption of approval for Alaska Native fee-to-trust applications. This Note reviews the history and controversy of trust acquisitions in Alaska, and more importantly, it demonstrates the methods in which Alaska Native Villages may still acquire fee land for trust acquisitions after ANCSA.

D.C. Federal Court Dismisses Eastern Pequot Effort to Move Acknowledgement Petition Forward Faster

Here are the materials in Historical Eastern Pequot Tribe v. Office of Acknowledgment (D.D.C.):

17 Second Amended Complaint

16 Motion to Dismiss

19 Opposition

20 Reply

22 DCT Order

Canadian shit, I know.

SCOTUS Declines to Review Ninth Circuit’s Rule 19/Tribal Immunity Decision

Here is Monday’s order list.

The petition was Klamath Irrigation District v. Bureau of Reclamation: petition and opposition briefs.

Native America Calling Episode about Enforcing ICWA Today @ 1PM Eastern

Here. Description:

A non-Native woman in Alaska refuses to abide by a tribal court order to turn an Alaska Native foster child over to the girl’s family members. It’s a blatant disregard of tribal sovereignty even after a notable re-affirmation of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the U.S. Supreme Court. The woman took custody of the child, named Chanel, at the request of the girl’s father, right before he was convicted of murdering Chanel’s mother during a domestic dispute. We’ll look at that case, as well as efforts to bolster ICWA compliance elsewhere.

Case materials here.

First Circuit Affirms Interior Decision to Acquire Trust Land for Mashpee Wampanoag

Here is the opinion in Littlefield v. Dept. of the Interior.

Briefs and other materials here,