On Friday, August 11, 2023, United States District Judge David Nuffer of the United States District Court of the District of Utah granted motions to dismiss the cases challenging the Bears Ears National Monument designation.
Here is the Order:
Previous post with briefs here and here.
Bears Ears at Sunset. Photo credit: Tim Peterson.
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision in Wyoming v. Herrera, which affirmed that the Crow Tribe’s treaty-reserved right to hunt in the Big Horn National Forest remained intact following Wyoming’s statehood, the State continued to prosecute Mr. Herrera for taking an elk in the Forest. The State argued that notwithstanding the Supreme Court’s decision in Herrera, Mr. Herrera was precluded from asserting his treaty defense because he (being in privity with the Crow Tribe as a Tribal member) was bound by the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis, which held that the Tribe’s treaty right was extinguished upon Wyoming’s statehood. Accordingly, the Crow Tribe sought relief from the Repsis judgments pursuant to Rule 60(b), so that the State could not continue to use Repsis. The Wyoming Federal District Court initially denied the Tribe’s Rule 60(b) motion, but the Tenth Circuit has now vacated that decision, remanding to the district court to consider the merits of the Tribe’s Rule 60(b) motion.
Here is the decision:
Prior posts on this matter here and here.
Here is the Order Denying South Dakota’s Motion to Dismiss Rosebud and Oglala’s Complaint that South Dakota is failing to comply with the National Voter Registration Act.
Here is the Amended Complaint.
Previous post on this issue here.
Here is the complaint in Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, et al., v. Lyman County.
And here is the release on the litigation.
“Through this lawsuit we’re insisting Lyman County hold elections with a fairly drawn map in 2022,” said plaintiff, voter, and Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Vice Chairman Neil Russell.
The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and three enrolled members filed the lawsuit to prevent Lyman County from continuing to violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act until 2026. “Like every other county already using new election district maps adopted after the 2020 Census in 2022, Lyman County must comply with the Voting Rights Act and implement the revised district map immediately,” said Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Staff Attorney Samantha Kelty. “Lyman County cannot continue to disenfranchise voters who live on the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation until 2026.”
The MHA Nation and individual Native American voters in North Dakota have filed a motion to intervene as defendants into a North Dakota District Court redistricting case. The plaintiffs have sued the State to overturn a legislative subdistrict for the Fort Berthold Reservation. The MHA Nation and tribal member intervenors are seeking to defend the Fort Berthold Reservation subdistrict that was approved by the North Dakota legislature.
Motion to intervene here:
Press release here.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Spirit Lake Tribe, and several individual voters filed suit in North Dakota challenging North Dakota’s state legislative map as unlawfully diluting the voting rights of Native Americans in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). You can see the complaint here.
Press release is here.
Here.
Turtle Talk 
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