Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher – Page 629

Leland Morrill was estranged from his Navajo lineage for twenty years. Today, as an author, advocate, and speaker, Morrill shares the unique perspective of how adoption is viewed by Native American family and culture, through the eyes of an adult adoptee.

Nooksack Update — Open Letter to BIA and BIA Response (to a different letter)

February 26, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the open letter in the ICT.

And here is the BIA’s response to a prior, official letter:

BIA response letter

Pics from MSU Diversity Week Event

February 26, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Fletcher spoke Tuesday at an MSU Diversity Week lunch about citizenship, along with my colleagues Veronica Thronson and Tiffani Darden. MSU law school Jeannette Lugo moderated, cuz it was getting rowdy:

Emily and Victoria laughing it up before the talk.

Eighth Circuit Briefs in City of Duluth v. Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa II

February 26, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here:

Fond du Lac Opening Brief

City of Duluth Brief

Fond du Lac Reply Brief

Lower court materials here.

Materials in City of Duluth v. Fond du Lac I are here.

Second Circuit Briefs in Stockbridge-Munsee Community Lands Claims

February 26, 2014February 28, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the briefs in Stockbridge-Munsee Community v. State of New York:

Stockbridge-Munsee Brief

Oneida Indian Nation Brief

State Brief

Stockbridge-Munsee Reply Brief

Lower court materials are here.

NAICJA Training RFP

February 26, 2014February 26, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

NAICJA RFP 2014

First Circuit Reverses Contempt Citation against Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office

February 26, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in the sealed case In re Grand Jury Proceedings:

13-2498-01A

An excerpt:

A venerable legal Latinism, lex non cogit ad impossibilia, teaches that the law does not compel the impossible. Guided by that august adage, we hold that a subpoena duces tecum compelling the production of documents to a now-defunct grand jury cannot be enforced by civil contempt sanctions before a successor grand jury, and we accordingly vacate the district court’s order holding the appellant in civil contempt. We reject, however, the appellant’s additional contentions that tribal sovereign immunity shielded it from subpoena and that the subpoena was unreasonably broad in scope.

A cautionary note about raising tribal immunity from a federal subpoena:

For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the subpoena duces tecum was unenforceable after the expiration of the issuing grand jury. We therefore vacate the district court’s order holding NITHPO in civil contempt. In the event a subpoena similar in scope is subsequently issued and NITHPO again challenges its validity, our holdings on tribal sovereign immunity and reasonableness of the subpoena shall apply to any such proceeding.