Author: Kate E. Fort

American Indian Children and The Law

Monica Williamson

American Indian Children and the Law by Kathryn “Kate” E. Fort, Director of the Indian Law Clinic at Michigan State University College of Law, is now available. Click here to order.

book.jpeg

“Introduction: This casebook is the result of years of discussions with Native lawyers, law students, families, tribal leaders, and professors. Because Native children and families continue to be the subject of constant litigation and federal policy changes, this book changed dramatically in the years as it was being written. The actions of federal and state governments against Native children — removing them from their families, culture, language, and communities — has had far ranging implications for generations of families. This casebook discusses the consequences of those actions and the tribal responses to them.”

Carpenter v. Murphy Restored to the Supreme Court Calendar for Reargument Next Term

ilpc

More to commentary to come.

Follow up NY Times Article on ICWA

Kate Fort

Here.

“I think it means a lot to our foster kids that we’re Cherokee,” said Carney Duncan, a gentle, soft-spoken man whose hair falls below his shoulders. “My mom and dad always helped people and took them in. I have an ‘Uncle Joe’ who is no kin but we took him in. And a ‘brother’ who lived with us who is no blood kin. We help our own. It’s a Cherokee value.”

Joy Harjo Named U.S. Poet Laureate

Kate Fort

Here

Now Harjo has a chance to offer that medicine to the whole nation. Today she was appointed 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States. As a member of the Muscogee Nation, she will be the first Native American to serve in that honorary position when she begins this fall.

Sad News: Frank LaMere Walks On

Kate Fort

Here.

Few of yesterday’s articles about his life mention just how much work he did on behalf of Native children, including the March for Lost Children. In this interview, he speaks about making people uncomfortable–“Nothing changes until someone feels uncomfortable.”

If you worked on ICWA in any capacity, you knew Frank LaMere. Keep making people uncomfortable.

Intercept Article on ICWA and the Brackeen Case

Kate Fort

Here

“Babies don’t get born and run down to the citizenship office and file a petition,” said Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center at Michigan State University. When his own child was born, he and his partner took a year to register him as a tribal member, in part because he was eligible for more than one tribal nation. “To say that somehow this kid hasn’t been enrolled yet and therefore doesn’t have a political relationship is really quite disingenuous.”

***

Reflecting on the rhetoric used by ICWA opponents like Sandefur, Nicole Adams, a spokesperson for Partnership for Native Children, pointed to the institutions that pushed for the use of boarding schools and adoption for decades before ICWA’s passage. “They were led by very well-intentioned Christian coalitions purporting that Indian children needed to be saved, and they were just the ones to do it. If you look at the rhetoric being put out by some of ICWA’s most staunch opponents, it is eerily and frighteningly similar.”

No State Sovereign Immunity in Patent Case [Relying on Saint Regis Mohawk Decision]

Kate Fort

From the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals:

Opinion

And, contrary to UMN’s arguments, Saint Regis did not
base its reasoning on implied abrogation of tribal sovereign
immunity. Instead, Saint Regis concluded that IPR was an
agency reconsideration proceeding to which sovereign immunity does not apply in the first instance. 896 F.3d at 1329. This reasoning applies equally to states as it does to
tribes.

Article discussing the opinion here.

Indian Law Articles in This Month’s Judicial Notice (New York Court Publication)

Kate Fort

Here

4 New York’s Quest for Jurisdiction over Indian Lands by Hon. Carrie Garrow

20 New York State’s Recent Judicial Collaboration with Indigenous Partners: The Story of New York’s Federal-State-Tribal Courts and Indian Nations Justice Forum by Hon. Marcy L. Kahn

34 The Origins and Evolution of the Indian Child Welfare Act by Danielle J. Mayberry

48 Thomas Indian School: Social Experiment Resulting in Traumatic Effects by Lori V. Quigley, Ph.D.

AFCARS Comments Due June 18

Kate Fort

Here are the previous posts on the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.

These comments are to tell the federal government (AGAIN) to start collecting basic data on state ICWA cases. While we would like the original rule to stand (and say so in the model tribal comments), there is also an opportunity to request very specific data elements that are less complicated or confusing than the ones currently offered.

If you would like information on this issue or model tribal comments, please email Jack Trope (information handouts), Delia Sharpe (model comments), or me (both/either). If you are a law professor interested in signing on to excellent comments, email Seth Davis at Berkeley.

jtrope@casey.org

delia.sharpe@caltribalfamilies.org

fort@law.msu.edu

sdavis@law.berkeley.edu

 

NYT on ICWA and the Brackeen Case

ilpc

Here