Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Fletcher and Singel on Lawyering and the Indian Child Welfare Act

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Fletcher and Singel’s paper, “Lawyering the Indian Child Welfare Act,” has been published in the Michigan Law Review. We’re honored to be part of a symposium on civil rights lawyering!

Our abstract:

This Article describes how the statutory structure of child welfare laws enables lawyers and courts to exploit deep-seated stereotypes about American Indian people rooted in systemic racism to undermine the enforcement of the rights of Indian families and tribes. Even when Indian custodians and tribes are able to protect their rights in court, their adversaries use those same advantages on appeal to attack the constitutional validity of the law. The primary goal of this Article is to help expose those structural issues and the ethically troublesome practices of adoption attorneys as the most important Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) case in history, Brackeen v. Haaland, reaches the Supreme Court.

California Federal Court Rebuffs Coyote Valley Effort to Stop State Court Contract Dispute

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the updated materials in Coyote Band of Pomo Indians v. Findleton (N.D. Cal.):

61 Tribe Response to Motions to Dismiss.pdfDownload
62 Findleton Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss.pdfDownload
63 State Judge Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss.pdfDownload
64 Bank Motion to Dismiss.pdfDownload
80 Findleton Request for Judicial Notice of State Ct Sanctions Order.pdfDownload
81 Tribe Objection to Motion for Judicial Notice.pdfDownload
88 Tribe 3rd Request for TRO.pdfDownload
89 DCT Order.pdfDownload

Prior post here.

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Suit against Mechoopda

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished opinion in Engasser v. Tetra Tech Inc.

Briefs here.

New York Federal Court Declines to Enjoin Smoke Shops at Cayuga

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the order in Cayuga Nation v. Parker (N.D. N.Y.):

59 DCT Order.pdfDownload
Akwesasne Notes, 1986

Prior post here.

Getches, Wilkinson, Williams, Fletcher, Carpenter, and Singel Federal Indian Law Casebook 2022-23 Update

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

We delighted that Wenona Singel has joined us this year. Guess it’s time to get cracking on the eighth edition. . . .

teacher’s memorandum 2022-2023.pdfDownload

Sherally Munshi on Dispossession and American Property

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sherally Munshi has published “Dispossession: An American Property Law Tradition” in the Georgetown Law Journal.

The abstract:

Universities and law schools have begun to purge the symbols of conquest and slavery from their crests and campuses, but they have yet to come to terms with their role in reproducing the material and ideological conditions of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. This Article considers the role the property law tradition has played in shaping and legitimizing regimes of racialized dispossession past and present. It intervenes in the traditional presentation of property law by arguing that dis-possession describes an ongoing but disavowed function of property law. As a counter-narrative and critique of property, dispossession is a useful concept for challenging existing property arrangements, often rationalized within liberal and legal discourse.

Interesting. Looks to be expanding on K-Sue Park’s work.

Bobby Wilson

Montana Federal Court Allows Tribal Members’ Race Discrimination Complaint against Telephone Coop to Proceed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Barnes v. 3 River Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (D. Mont.):

9 Amended Complaint.pdfDownload
14 Motion to Dismiss.pdfDownload
20 Response.pdfDownload
23 Reply.pdfDownload
30 DCT Order.pdfDownload
Itspeteski

Ninth Circuit Orders Chickasaw Nation to Arbitration with Pharmacy Benefits Manager

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Caremark LLC v. Chickasaw Nation.

Briefs:

Opening Brief.pdfDownload
Answer Brief.pdfDownload
US Chamber of Commerce Amicus Brief.PDFDownload
Washington Legal Foundation Amicus Brief.PDFDownload
Reply.pdfDownload

Lower court materials here.

D.C. Circuit Rejects Oglala Sioux Tribe Challenge to Uranium Mine

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Briefs:

Tribal Opening Brief.pdfDownload
Federal Brief.pdfDownload
Powertech Brief.pdfDownload
Tribe Reply.pdfDownload

Prior post here.