Author: Sarah M Donnelly

MSU AISP’s 2016-2017 Pre-Doctoral Fellow Applications due Feb. 29

Sarah M Donnelly

Announcement and application details here.

Applicants must be finished with all doctoral work, except the dissertation; actively working in American Indian Studies; and committed to a career in Indigenous Studies. It is expected that the Pre-doctoral Fellow will complete the dissertation during the award year. Applicants may be pursuing the PhD degree in any discipline or area offered at Michigan State University. The successful applicant will be required to teach one course and will affiliate with a department or program in one of the University’s colleges, as well as actively participate in activities of the American Indian Studies Program. The Fellow must reside in the East Lansing, Michigan area for the duration of the fellowship. Final award pending university budget approval.

Child Welfare Evidence Training at Pascua Yaqui Tribe in March

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to details and registration form here.

No charge for the seminar. Selected participants are responsible for their own airfare, accommodations, and meals.

Child Welfare Evidence Training will be repeated in three other venues regionally in 2016, as organized by the federal government. Current venues for future training include Montana and Michigan. One other site is to be determined in the southern region.

All applications must be submitted by FEBRUARY 12, 2016 to Mercedes Garcia at mercedes.garcia@pascuayaqui-nsn.gov. Participants will be notified by FEBRUARY 15, 2016, regarding their selection.

8th Circuit Finds Tribal Cop Working under BIA Contract was Federal Officer when Assaulted

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to memorandum in re U.S. v. Janis (Jan. 15 2016) here.

Defendant’s brief here and reply brief here.

United States’ brief here.

Previous coverage here.

Defendant raised two questions on appeal: (1) whether officers in the Dept. of Public Safety on the Pine Ridge Reservation are federal officers authorized to carry out tribal law and (2) whether the court erred in instructing the jury to find Officer Mousseau a federal officer as a matter of law.

The Eighth Circuit held that through the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act a “638 contract” between the BIA and the Oglala Sioux Tribe explicitly required officers to enforce both tribal and federal laws.

However, it decided that the district court erred on jury instructions because although it was correct to rule as a matter-of-law that Oglala Sioux’s Public Safety officers were federal officers for the purpose of 18 U.S.C. § 111, it should have been up to the jury to determine whether Officer Mousseau was a Dept. of Public Safety officer at the time of the assault.  The Court determined the error was harmless, though, since evidence on record made it clear beyond a reasonable doubt that a rational jury would find Mousseau an officer when she responded to a complaint of illegal alcohol consumption at a home on the Reservation.

First Aboriginal Woman Appointed as Dean of Canadian Law School

Sarah M Donnelly1 Comment

Link to Globe and Mail article here.

Excerpt:

Angelique EagleWoman was appointed this week as dean of Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, a position she’ll take up in May, a month before the fledgling Thunder Bay, Ont., law school’s first class is set to graduate.

EagleWoman, who currently teaches law at the University of Idaho College of Law, said she was drawn in part by Lakehead’s mandatory first- and second-year courses in aboriginal law.

Michigan Tribe Seeks Attorney for Treaty Rights Litigation

Sarah M Donnelly

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Michigan) seeks an attorney of stature and notable experience to serve as lead counsel for the negotiation, or litigation, of a resource allocation agreement for court affirmed treaty rights, along with possible litigation regarding exterior boundaries of the ceded territory.

Preference will be given to those submissions showing extensive and demonstrable experience in treaty rights litigation. To receive an RFP packet contact Aaron Schlehuber at lawaaron@saulttribe.net.

2016 NNALSA Moot Court Request for Judges

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to announcement here.

Link to registration here.

This year’s competition is March 5-6 at Michigan State College of Law.

University of Arizona’s 4th Annual Tribal Lands Conference Coming January 25-26

Sarah M Donnelly

Final conference announcement here.

Previous coverage here.

This year’s conference is focused on the American Indian Probate Reform Act of 2004.

Fall 2015 Publication of Seattle University’s American Indian Law Journal

Sarah M Donnelly2 Comments

Contents

Masthead
Protecting Victims of Domestic Assault: Upholding the Use of Uncounseled Tribal Court Domestic Assault Convictions to Establish Federal Habitual Domestic Assault Charges Joanna Adu
The Tohono O’odham Nation and the United States-Mexico Border Peter Heidepriem
The Binding Guidance Principle: Using the Indian Trust Doctrine to Trump the APA John Robinson Jr.
A Streamlined Model of Tribal Appellate Court Rules for Lay Advocates and Pro Se Litigants Gregory D. Smith
Defining the Indian Civil Rights Act’s “Sufficiently Trained” Tribal Court Judge Jill Elizabeth Tompkins
Endangered Species, Endangered Treaties: Protecting Treaty Rights, Economic Development, and Tribal Consultation Under Secretarial Order 3206 Jeremy Wood

Read the entire issue here (PDF).