Federal Court Dismisses Employee Action against Wisconsin Oneida

Here are the materials in Delebreau v. Danforth (E.D. Wis.):

39 motion to dismiss

45 response

48 opposition

49 reply

56 dct order

Ninth Circuit Rejects Appeal of Individual Picayune Rancheria Members

Here is the unpublished opinion in State of California v. Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians.

Briefs:

opening brief

state answer brief

tribe answer brief

reply brief

Lower court materials.

Citizen Potawatomi Nation v. Oklahoma Cert Petition [Liquor sales, gaming compact, arbitration]

Here:

cpn v okla cert petition

Question presented:

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in reversing the District Court’s confirmation and enforcement of the Arbitrator’s Award pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.

Lower court materials.

UPDATE:

Oklahoma BIO

Deb Haaland!

HuffPo: “It Looks Like America Is Finally Going To Have A Native American Congresswoman

CNN: “New Mexico’s Deb Haaland likely to be first Native American congresswoman

Newsweek: “WHO IS DEB HAALAND? NEW MEXICO DEMOCRAT AND ICE ABOLITIONIST MAY BECOME FIRST NATIVE AMERICAN CONGRESSWOMAN

Eleventh Circuit Rules Against Miccosukee Tribe and Sally Jim over Taxes

Here is the opinion in United States v. Jim.

Briefs here.

Seventh Circuit Decides Copyright Dispute Between Authors of Native-Themed Romance Novels

Here is the opinion in Rucker v. Fasano:

unpublished opinion

An excerpt:

No love is lost between romance novelists Kelly Rucker and Donna Fasano, who each wrote a tale of a wealthy teenage girl who falls in love with a boy of Native American heritage and becomes pregnant, before they are cruelly parted. To the reader’s relief, however, in each book the lovers are reunited years later, and they rekindle their fiery romance while their child explores his indigenous heritage with his father’s guidance. The characters’ happy endings, however, did not extend to the authors, who each claim to have conceived the story first. Rucker sued Fasano and her publishers for copyright infringement. In this appeal challenging the district court’s entry of summary judgment for the defendants, Rucker contends that disputes of material fact exist regarding Fasano’s access to Rucker’s story and the similarities between the two works. We affirm the judgment.

Klamath Sues over Two Endangered Fish Species

Here is the complaint in Klamath Tribes v. United States Bureau of Reclamation (N.D. Cal.):

1 complaint

Federal Court Rejects Effort to Block Lummi Crab Fishery as Unripe

Here are the materials in United States v. Washington subproceeding 18-02 (W.D. Wash.), aka Swinomish Indian Tribe v. Lummi Indian Tribe:

3 swinomish & tulalip motion for tro

16 upper skagit motion

19 lummi response

27 dct order

Alex Skibine on the Last 30 Years of Indian Law

Alexander Tallchief Skibine has published “The Supreme Court’s Last 30 Years of Federal Indian Law: Looking or Equilibrium or Supremacy?” In the Columbia Journal of Race and the Law.

Here is the abstract:

For 187 years, Indian nations status in the United States has not been fully developed or consistently approached within the law. They are viewed as Domestic Dependent Nations located within the geographical boundaries of the United States. Although Chief Justice John Marshall acknowledged that Indian nations had a certain amount of sovereignty, the exact extent of such sovereignty as well as the place of tribes within the federal system has remained ill- defined. This Article examines what has been the role of the Supreme Court in integrating Indian nations as the third Sovereign within our federalist system. The Article accomplishes this task by examining the Court’s Indian law record in the last 30 years. The comprehensive survey of Indian law decisions indicates that while the tribal win-loss record at the Supreme Court is improving, the Court has had difficulties upholding the federal policy of respecting tribal sovereignty and encouraging tribal self-government.

After categorizing the cases between victories and losses, the Article divides the cases into categories for analytical purposes. The Second half of the Article focuses on the interaction between the Court and Congress concerning the incorporation of tribes as the third sovereign within the federalist system, and ends by arguing that through its disproportionate use of federal common law in its Indian law decisions, the Court has not attempted to reach a consensus with Congress about the place of Indian nations within our federalism.

“3 Risk Management Tips To Protect Your Tribe’s Resources”

By Venus Prince & Kristalyn Kinsel, here.