Link to GC announcement here.
Link to request for prosecutorial services here.
For the Prosecutor RFP, Tribal Council has expressed a willingness to take a recent, unlicensed law school graduate. Both positions are for immediate hire.
Author: Sarah M Donnelly
Tribal Issues Advisory Group’s Final Report on Impact of Sentencing Guidelines
Link to final report (PDF) here.
Link to previous coverage here.
Some key recommendations:
- Adding commentary to guide when tribal court convictions may be considered for a possible upward departure in the defendant’s criminal history category.
- Establishing a standing advisory group on tribal issues to assist the Commission on changes to the Guidelines impacting American Indian defendants, to advise on and assist in tribal consultation, and to form the basis for a new TIAG when appropriate.
- Creating a process for the collection of better data on federal court sentencing to allow for study of the protection order provisions of the Guidelines and analysis of sentencing disparity concerns as detailed herein;
- Considering the recommendations of other working groups regarding juvenile offenders, including possibly collapsing sentencing zones A, B, and C into a single zone.
SCOTUS Denies Cert in Jensen v. EXC Inc.
Associate Attorney Opening with Earthjustice in Denver
Link to job announcement here.
“The Rocky Mountain Office has nine attorneys, including this position, handling a range of cases involving, among other things, the protection of public lands and wildlife from fracking, mining and off-road vehicle damage; species protection under the Endangered Species Act; defending important riparian areas from groundwater pumping; challenging the mining and combustion of coal and oil shale; and utility rate-setting proceedings to expand clean energy sources like rooftop solar. We are also helping communities fight off environmental impacts from uranium mining and milling in Utah and in the greater Grand Canyon area, and we anticipate growing our environmental justice docket. Our goal is to produce the highest quality legal work in a diverse, inclusive, supportive, and collegial environment.”
Vulture Fund Files to Hold U.S. Liable for Lower Brule Sioux’s Debt
Here are materials in Great American Life Ins. Co. v. U.S. DOI, 16-cv-00699 ( S.D. Ohio):
Doc. 1 – Complaint for Declaratory, Injunctive, and Other Relief
Interior Board of Indian Appeals Order Affirming Decision
Updated Materials:
Law in Support of Preliminary Injunction Against North Dakota Voter ID Law
Link to press release from NARF here.
Download Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Support here.
Doc. 45 Brief in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction 2016 07 05 (00137735x9D7F5)
Link to previous coverage here.
Special AUSA Position on Standing Rock Sioux Reservation
Download job announcement here.
Albuquerque Journal Op-ed on U.S. v. Bryant by Barbara Creel and John LaVelle
Link to “High Court Denies Rights of Natives” here.
Excerpt:
Most disturbing is the court’s disregard of the racial inequity left in the wake of Bryant. Federal prosecutors are now licensed to target Indians – and only Indians – who faced prosecution without assistance of counsel in tribal court proceedings. This is because ICRA allows tribal courts to imprison Indians without the benefit of counsel but does not impact non-Indians, who are entitled to court-appointed counsel in state, federal, and now tribal court, thanks to a recent amendment to ICRA.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who wrote Bryant, denigrates Indian people’s civil rights, citing the need to protect Native women from domestic violence. But Department of Justice statistics show most domestic violence perpetrators in Indian country are non-Indians, and the Bryant decision leaves intact their constitutional rights, including the right to appointed counsel.
D. Wyoming Finds BLM Fracking Regulations Unlawful
Here are materials in Wyoming v. U.S. Dept. of Interior, et al, 15-cv-00043 (Jun. 21, 2016):
Doc. 180 – Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation Merits Brief
Doc. 193 – Federal Respondents’ Brief in Response to Merits Briefs of Industry and State Petitioners
Doc. 207 – Order on Petitions for Review of Final Agency Action
The DOI and respondents have filed a leave to appeal.
Link to previous coverage here.
Call for Papers: American Indian Law Review
The American Indian Law Review (AILR) welcomes articles by legal scholars and practitioners in the areas of law relating to Native Americans and indigenous peoples. The American Indian Law Review serves as a nationwide scholarly forum for analysis of developments in legal issues pertaining to Native Americans and indigenous peoples worldwide, and is one of the most cited legal publications in the nation.
Adhering to the traditional law review format, the Review offers in-depth articles by legal scholars, attorneys and other expert observers. The American Indian Law Review is committed to advancing the quality of published scholarship relating to Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. Toward this goal, the Review considers article submissions through an independent, double-blind peer-review process. Publication decisions are based upon objective recommendations from reviewers as well as the student board of editors.
Electronic submissions may be sent in one of two ways: (1) via ExpressO, an electronic submission service operated by the Berkeley Electronic Press, or (2) directly by email to the Review via mwaters@ou.edu. Submissions should follow these guidelines:
- Submissions may be in Microsoft Word or PDF format.
- The cover letter or transmitting email should specify that the submission is intended for the American Indian Law Review. (Submissions for other OU Law journals are received in both ExpressO and email venues.)
- Both the article being submitted and the cover letter should include the title of the article.
- The article itself should be anonymous. The author’s name or affiliation should not appear anywhere in the article unless as a citation which is not clearly identified with the author.
- The article should use footnotes, not endnotes, for citations. AILR recommends that submitters follow The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation(20th edition, 2015) for format and The Chicago Manual of Style for grammatical structure.
Hardcopy submissions may be submitted to:
American Indian Law Review
Andrew M. Coats Hall
300 Timberdell Road
Norman, OK 73019
The American Indian Law Review also recruits scholars and experts in the field of Native American law and indigenous peoples’ issues to review articles submitted to the Review for publication. Anyone interested in joining the Review’s pool of reviewers should contact Naomi Palosaari, Articles Development Editor, at naomi.palosaari@ou.edu.
Questions and inquiries may be sent to Austin R. Vance, Editor-In-Chief, at austin.vance@ou.edu.
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