Author: Matthew Campbell

Klamath Tribes Challenge Orders Based on Secret Agreement Between Irrigator Group and State

Matthew Campbell

On November 19, 2025, the Klamath Tribes filed a motion to amend their petition in the Circuit Court of Klamath County. The amended petition seeks to reverse recent illegal orders that replaced a long-time administrative law judge in the Klamath Basin Adjudication (KBA) on the heels of a secret deal cut between the Oregon State Office of Administrative Hearings and certain water users in the Upper Klamath Basin. Here is the amended petition:

2025-12-04 Klamath Tribes Am Pet for Relief from Non-Final Order or Pet for Writ of MandamusDownload

The KBA is a several-decades-old lawsuit pending in the Circuit Court of Klamath County. It is quantifying the federal reserved water rights of the Klamath Tribes in the Klamath River Basin. The KBA involves administrative hearings conducted by the Office of Administrative Hearings, which made initial determinations on the Tribes’ water rights claims. Extensive proceedings were conducted at the Office from 2006 to 2012, and the Klamath County Circuit Court recently returned cases there for additional proceedings.

Cert Petition in Turtle Mountain et al. v. Howe

Matthew Campbell
Turtle Mountain Cert Petition and AppendixDownload

More here.

Chippewa Cree Indians of Rocky Boy Sue Chouteau County for Vote Dilution

Matthew Campbell

On August 14, 2025, the Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation and two Native voters filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana challenging Chouteau County’s unfair, at-large voting system for the Board of County Commissioners. The suit alleges the system unlawfully dilutes the voting strength of Native voters and has denied them any representation on the County Commission for more than a decade.   

Read more here and see the Complaint below.

20250814complaint_chippewa_cree_v_chouteauDownload

Tribes Move to Intervene in Chuckwalla National Monument Lawsuit

Matthew Campbell

On August 11, 2025, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, Chemeheuvi Indian Tribe, Colorado River Indian Tribes, and Morongo Band of Mission Indians, moved to intervene in Torongo v. Burgum, a case that threatens the long-sought designation of the Chuckwalla National Monument. Tribal Nations led the effort to establish Chuckwalla National Monument. The challenge to the monument is brought in federal court by a Michigan resident who purportedly has mining claims within the monument boundaries and a national off-road vehicle special interest group. 

More here.

Complaint is here:

Chuckwalla Case Complaint – Torongo v. Burgum Download

NARF’s Work in Alaska Over 40 Years

Matthew Campbell

The Native American Rights Fund has provided legal assistance to Tribes in Alaska since NARF’s founding in the early 1970s. In 1984, NARF opened an Alaska office so it could better serve Alaska Native Tribes and individuals. In the 40 years since NARF Alaska opened its doors, the office has litigated some of the most influential cases in the development of federal Indian law in Alaska. Below is an overview of the foundational work that NARF has done with and on behalf of Alaska Native Tribal governments and people.

NARF Legal ReviewDownload

Native voters in North Dakota urge Eighth Circuit to reinstate voting rights and fair maps

Matthew Campbell

Here is the briefing on Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake’s Petition for Re Hearing

2025.05.30 Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc [23-3655]Download
2025.05.30 Appellees’ Petition for Rehearing En Banc [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amici of NCAI [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amici of 18 States and District of Columbia [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amici of former US DOJ Attorneys [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amici of NAACP Arkansas State Conference and Arkansas Public Policy Panel [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amici of Voting Rights Historians [23-3655]Download
2025.06.04 Amicus of NAACP Legal Def & Ed Fund, Inc [23-3655]Download
2025.06.16 Appellant’s Resp to Petition for En Banc Rehearing [23-3655]Download
2025.06.27 Plfs-Appellee’s Rule 28(j) Notice [23-3655]Download
2025.06.29 Resp to Plf-Appellees’ Notice of Supp Authority [23-3655]Download

NARF Launches The Headwaters Report

Matthew Campbell

The Headwaters Report – is a new digital blog site, bulletin, and source for Tribal water law information and resources. The Headwaters Report presents accessible information on foundational Tribal water law concepts and practices as well as current and emerging water-related issues.

    The first article focuses on the Clean Water Act, a 50-year-old law that, among other things, allows Tribes to assert regulatory jurisdiction over water quality and activities that impact water quality within reservation boundaries. In our next Report update, we plan to address the changes the Trump Administration is attempting to make to the Clean Water Act and how that may affect Tribal Nations.

    In the Report you will also find several slide decks on Tribal water rights information, including one on the basics of Tribal water rights, general stream adjudications, and Indian water rights settlements. We intend The Headwaters Report to act not only as a clearinghouse for Tribal water law and policy information, but as a place to bring questions and to get guidance.

    U.S. Supreme Court denies cert in Montana voting rights case

    Matthew Campbell

    On January 21, 2025, in Jacobsen, MT Sec. of State v. Montana Democratic Party, et al., the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the Montana Supreme Court’s decision that two Montana laws that disenfranchise Native American voters are unconstitutional. The Blackfeet Nation, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Western Native Voice, and Montana Native Voice have repeatedly won their challenges to two Montana laws that suppressed the Native vote in Montana by restricting access.

    The Montana Legislature passed HB 176 to eliminate Election Day registration, which Native American voters disproportionately rely on to cast votes in Montana. Legislators passed HB 530 to restrict third-party ballot assistance, a service that aids Native voters living on reservations who may have to travel hours to the nearest polling location due to systemic inequities. The lower courts ruled, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed, that the laws violate provisions of the Montana Constitution, including the right to vote, equal protection, free speech, and due process.

    This is the second time that Montana Legislators passed restrictions on ballot collection that the courts determined discriminated against Native voters.

    More here.

    North Dakota Native Voting Rights Upheld by Supreme Court

    Matthew Campbell

    On January 13, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the Walen v. Burgum redistricting lawsuit and affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota decision that preserves North Dakota House District 4A, a subdistrict that gives Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation voters a long-awaited opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. The lower court determined that state legislators were endeavoring to comply with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and redistricting best practices by creating an election subdistrict along the boundaries of the MHA reservation as part of 2021 redistricting.

    While the MHA Nation sided with the state to defend subdistrict 4A, North Dakota abandoned its own win during the appeal to the Supreme Court, failing to advocate for the state legislature’s voting map and citizens’ rights.

    More here and here.

    The Every Day Fight for Voting Rights in North Dakota

    Matthew Campbell