Indian Country Public Safety News
Open Source Intelligence Report by the DOJ Office of Tribal Justice
December 12, 2011
National
Two Habitual Domestic Violence Cases From Indian Country Head to US Supreme Court
DOJ Publishes Rule for Assumption of Concurrent Federal Criminal Jurisdiction on
PL-280 Reservations
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/12/09/42091.htm
FEMA Supports Legislative Change to Allow Tribes to Directly Request Presidential Disaster Declarations
Previous materials here.
Opinion here.
ALEXANDER, J.—The primary issue presented by this case is whether the State of Washington has jurisdiction over members of Indian tribes who sell unstamped cigarettes without a license at a store that is located on trust allotment land that is outside the boundaries of an Indian reservation. We conclude that the State does possess jurisdiction in such cases, and, thus, we affirm the trial court’s denial of the motion of the defendants herein to dismiss the charges against them.
via Constitutional Law Prof Blog (link includes schedule of events):
“A Living, Working Faith”:
Remembering Our Colleague
Derrick A. Bell, Jr.
at COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL, NY, NY on Saturday December 10th, 2011
This one day conference organized by Professors Kendall Thomas and Penelope Andrews will honor the work of the late ConLawProf Derrick Bell.
This looks to be an excellent conference.
The Cherokee Nation and Britney Jane Little Dove Nielson (child’s mother) have filed a petition for cert in the Supreme Court of the Tenth Circuit’s controversial decision to override the Cherokee Nation’s law establishing automatic temporary citizenship for all children born to Cherokee descendents when determining whether a child was an “Indian child” for the purposes of ICWA.
The Cert Petition is here. Previous materials on this case are here. Dean Leeds earlier commentary on this case is here. While the likelihood the Court grants cert is slim, this is an incredibly important case implicating not just ICWA determinations but tribal citizenship requirements, and the respect granted them in federal courts, in general.
The case regarding state unemployment taxes under FUTA will continue in the Eastern District of California. The Order is here.
The order from the Court of Federal Claims is here.
By statute this court lacks jurisdiction over any suit “for or in respect to” claims that are pending in another court. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss contends that plaintiff’s previously-filed district court complaint shares substantially the same operative facts as this, the second-filed action. For the following reasons, because plaintiff’s district court litigation was pending at the time the instant matter was filed, and was “for or in respect to the same claim,” applying 28 U.S.C. § 1500 (2006) as recently clarified by United States v. Tohono O’Odham Nation, 131 S. Ct. 1723 (2011), defendant’s Motion is GRANTED.
The Appendix, included in the order, gives a side by side comparison of the two claims.
In re King/Little, here.
From the opinion:
Petitioner responds to this issue by stating that, after respondent signed the form indicating that the children were eligible for membership in the Cherokee Tribe, it did comply with the requirements of the ICWA by sending the proper notice to both the Cherokee Boys Club and the Cherokee Nation. Petitioner contends it received responses from both organizations indicating that the children were not considered “Indian” in the Cherokee Nation and were not eligible for membership. Petitioner further contends that all the proper paperwork is on file at the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney and the Department of Human Services and invites this Court to view the failure to place this information on the trial court record as harmless error. However, we may not expand the record on appeal. MCR 7.210(A)(1).
Cherokee Boys Club?!? After all these years, how many different ways can DHS mess up notice and still defend their practice? There are only three federally recognized Cherokee tribes, and not one of them is the Cherokee Boys Club.
DOJ has released a draft tribal consultation policy available here. Public comments on the consultation policy are due by December 31st. Comments should be sent to USAEO.DOJTribalConsultation@usdoj.gov
Here is the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe’s combined Response and Reply: Combined Response & Reply
And here is the NLRB’s reply: Reply Brief – 12-05-11
Earlier posts here.
Turtle Talk 
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