Here is the 200+ page order in State of New York v. United Parcel Service (S.D. N.Y.):
Prior post here.
Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher
Kristen Carpenter appointed to United Nations Position
Here:
On March 24, 2017, at the conclusion of its 34th Session in Geneva, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointed Kristen A. Carpenter as the North American member of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Carpenter serves as Council Tree Professor of Law and associate dean for research at the University of Colorado Law School.
The Expert Mechanism is charged with providing expertise to the Human Right Council and advising states in achieving the aims of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples. Adopted by the General Assembly in 2007, the Declaration recognizes indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination, equality, and non-discrimination, and calls on states to address indigenous peoples’ rights in realms ranging from natural resource development and land tenure to freedom of expression and personal safety from violence.
Carpenter will be one of seven regional members, joining human rights experts from Africa, Asia, the Arctic, Europe, South America, and the Pacific on the Expert Mechanism.
At Colorado Law, Carpenter teaches and writes in the areas of property, cultural property, federal Indian law, and indigenous peoples in international law. She has published several books and many articles on the rights of indigenous peoples, and has represented Indian tribes, individuals, and organizations in cases involving religious freedoms and child welfare.
“The expanded mandate of the Expert Mechanism provides an unprecedented opportunity to implement the aims of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” said Dean S. James Anaya, who previously served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. “We support Professor Carpenter’s work toward fostering the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples around the world, and foresee high levels of educational opportunities for Colorado Law students to study human rights in domestic and international settings.”
“I would like to acknowledge the generations of advocates who have advanced indigenous peoples’ concerns at the United Nations,” said Carpenter. “It is because of their work that I now have the opportunity work with the other members of the Expert Mechanism and the Office of the High Commissioner toward realizing indigenous peoples’ rights. I hope especially to highlight the experiences and needs of traditional cultural practitioners, and to help to ensure a place for indigenous lifeways in the rapidly changing world around us.”
Permit Issued for Keystone XL Pipeline
Here.
Federal Court Dismisses Claims by “Historic Ione Band of Miwok Indians Tribe”
Here are the materials in Villa v. Jewell (E.D. Cal.):
Richard Hughes on Pueblo Water Rights
Richard W. Hughes has published “Pueblo Indian Water Rights: Charting the Unknown” in the Natural Resources Journal, Winter 2017.
Here is the abstract:
This article examines the so-far-unsuccessful efforts to judicially define and quantify the water rights appurtenant to the core land holdings of the 19 New Mexico Pueblos, many of whose lands straddle the Rio Grande. It explains that the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has squarely held that Pueblo water rights are governed by federal, not state law, and are prior to those of any non-Indian appropriator, but also that the Tenth Circuit acknowledged that it could not say how those rights should be characterized. Part I of the article examines the course of the cases that have sought to achieve this elusive goal. Of the first six cases, filed half a century ago, three ended in negotiated settlements and none of them has yielded a definitive ruling on the nature or measure of Pueblo rights. Of the three cases filed since then, only one is in active litigation on the Pueblo rights issue, but that case may finally lead to a substantive ruling. Part II discusses the few rulings that have been issued in these cases so far relative to Pueblo water rights, and examines the distinctive nature of the issues that are presented by the unique circumstances of the Pueblos’ history and landholdings. The article notes that the ultimate determination of the nature and measure of Pueblo rights could have dramatic consequences for any effort to adjudicate rights on the mainstem of the Upper and Middle Rio Grande.
Navajo Sues Interior over Judiciary Funding
Here is the complaint in Navajo Nation v. United States (D.D.C.):
Incarcerated Cobell-Eligible Beneficiary’s Federal Trust Claims May Proceed
Here are the materials in Godfrey v. United States (Fed. Cl.):
Gorsuch: “Tribes are . . . Sovereign Nations”
Here is a link to a short clip created by a user on C-SPAN from Judge Gorsuch’s testimony. Judge Gorsuch mentions his decisions in cases involving the Ute Tribe and the Osage Tribe. Thanks to John Dossett.
DAPL Appeal Pleadings
Here are the briefs in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe v. United States Army Corps of Engineers:
2017 03 15 Em Mtn for Injunction
Central New York Fair Business Assoc. v. Jewell Cert Petition
Here:
Questions presented:
1) Does the Secretary of the Interior have unlimited authority pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 465,25 U.S.C. § 9 and 43 U.S.C. § 1457 to promulgate and exercise the 25 CFR Part 151 regulations to acquire any fee land from state jurisdiction and place it into federal trust status?2) Whether the Second Circuit misinterpreted the “fact” discussion in this Court’s majority opinion in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation upholding its prior decision that the Oneida state Indian reservation was federal Indian country affecting the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 14,000 acres of fee land to place into federal trust in the Records of Decision prejudicing these petitioners in applying 5 U.S.C. § 706 in this case.3) What is left of the Equal Footing Doctrine if the Secretary of the Interior can acquire fee land from the original colony of the State of New York and place it into federal trust for an Indian tribe to exercise jurisdiction over it as federal territorial land?
Lower court materials here.
Turtle Talk 
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