Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher – Page 814

At the April 27, 2012, continued Indian heritage hearing, respondent-father indicated, for the first time, that he believed he was a member of the Tuscarora Band of Lewiston, New York. As the trial court noted below, the “Tuscarora Nation of New York” is listed among the federally recognized Indian tribes to which the ICWA applies. 75 FR 60810-01. Respondent-father’s sole basis for this belief was a letter that the Indian and Northern Affairs of Canada sent to respondent-father’s mother in 1992, confirming that she and respondent-father were members “of Tuscarora, Six Nations Band.” On appeal, respondent-father argues that this was sufficient indication that he was a member of the federally recognized Tuscarora Nation of New York and that the trial court should not have proceeded to the termination trial without first sending notice to the Tuscarora Nation of New York pursuant to the ICWA’s notice provision. We disagree. At this point in the proceedings, as discussed above, petitioners had presented the January 10, 2012, letter from the Six Nations Tribe confirming respondent-father’s membership with that tribe, and the trial court had heard extensive testimony that respondent-father was a member of the Six Nations Tribe and no other tribe. It was uncontroverted that the Six Nations Tribe was a Canadian tribe that was not recognized under the ICWA. The 1992 letter itself was from the Indian and Northern Affairs of Canada, which further evidenced that respondent-father was a member of a Canadian Indian tribe, rather than the federally recognized Tuscarora Nation of New York. In sum, Brown had already sent notice to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and various Indian tribes in compliance with the ICWA’s notice provision,2 and respondent-father did not present reliable information on which his purported membership with the Tuscarora Nation of New York might be based. Accordingly, the trial court did not fail to comply with the ICWA’s notice provision, 25 USC 1912(a), and did not err by finding that the ICWA did not apply to this case. See In re Morris, 491 Mich at 97.

11th Circuit Affirms Attorney Fees Award against EPA in Miccosukee v. United States

November 26, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here are the materials:

CA11 Unpublished Opinion

USA Appellant Brief

Friends of Everglades Answer Brief

USA Reply

Update in Grand Canyon Skywalk Controversy — Arbitration Award Suit Transferred from Judge Martone to Judge Campbell

November 26, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here are the new materials:

GCSD Application to Enforce Arbitration Award

Sa Nyu Wa Rule 42.1 Motion

GCSD Response

Sa Nyu Wa Reply

DCT Order Granting Rule 42.1 Motion

D.C. Circuit Briefs in “Old Section 81” Appeal

November 26, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher3 Comments

Here are the briefs in Quantum Entertainment Inc. v. Dept. of Interior:

Quantum Opening Brief

Interior Answering Brief

Quantum Reply Brief

Lower court materials here.

NYTs Review of Sherman Alexie’s “Blasphemy”

November 25, 2012November 25, 2012Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here.

An excerpt:

The most disheartening aspect of this collection is the fact that, over 20 years, the jokes themselves haven’t changed. Alexie’s narrators and protagonists still see themselves as solitary outcasts on the margins of reservation life, and it shows: we hear a great deal about vodka, meth, commodity canned beef and horn-rimmed government glasses, but nothing about the intricacies of tribal politics, struggles over natural resources or efforts to preserve indigenous cultural life. Of course, a fiction writer follows the dictates of his own imagination, not any political or cultural agenda, but that’s precisely the point: Alexie’s world is a starkly limited one, and his characters’ vision of Native America, despite their sometimes crippling nostalgia, is as self-consciously impoverished as it has ever been. What began as blasphemy could now just as easily be described as a kind of arrested development. Perhaps, willingly or not, that is the lesson he’s trying to teach us.