Author: Sarah Donnelly

A Native American Parent Confronts a Pervasive NFL Slur

Aside Sarah M Donnelly

Link to Education Week article by Jared Hautamaki here.

Excerpt:

The interim superintendent of the Montgomery County district responded to me. He said that in a large, diverse school district, not everyone is going to like what they see. He said that given the system’s values of equity and respect and students’ right of free expression, district officials would continue to monitor the impact and respond to the issue by benchmarking their actions against those of other Washington-area school districts. He hoped I would continue to collaborate with my son’s principal and still be “respectful and kind.” He didn’t address the academic research that I had shared. He didn’t address the comments of the district spokesman, who said the board addresses complaints like mine on a school-by-school basis. He didn’t address the dress code. He didn’t address the offensiveness of the name. But, he also didn’t use the name itself.

…

In the Washington region, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service, tribal lobby offices, and tribal law firms all employ a steady number of Native Americans who leave their tribal homes and uproot their families to serve their communities and their two nations—their tribe and the United States government. Native American student enrollment in the Montgomery County schools is around 280 students. The fact that we are a minority among minorities in the region is not an excuse for ignoring our children’s rights to an education environment free of racist imagery and discrimination.

Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Desire Associate General Counsel

Sarah M Donnelly

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is seeking an Associate General Counsel to work in-house with the Tribe’s Justice Department. Assignments cover a broad range of Indian Law topics, including natural resources, energy development, taxation, water, litigation, code development and economic development, just to name a few.

Tribal headquarters is located in Towaoc, Colorado, and the Tribe’s jurisdiction extends into New Mexico and Utah. Interested candidates may contact Peter Ortego, General Counsel, at (970) 564 5641 or portego@utemountain.org. Deadline for submission is January 11, 2016.

Hopi Tribe Solicit Pro Tem Judges

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to job announcement here.

Other recent Hopi job postings here.

Indian Country Investigation & Prosecutions Report to Congress

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to DOJ report for 2014 here.

Highlights:

  • FBI’s CY 2014 statistics are similar to 2013. The majority of Indian country criminal investigations opened by the FBI were referred for prosecution.
  • The majority of Indian country criminal cases opened by the USAOs were
    prosecuted.
  • The most common reason FBI Indian country investigations were closed administratively without referral for prosecution was that the investigation concluded that no federal crime had occurred. Analysis of CY 2014 data indicates that 657 FBI Indian country investigations were closed administratively without referral to a prosecuting authority — approximately 32% of the investigations that were opened. Reasons for non-referral include deaths determined to be the result of natural causes, accident, or suicide (i.e., non-homicides; 20% in CY 2014 of all investigations not referred), and insufficient evidence of criminal activity (21% in CY 2014).
  • All but 37 of the 148 death investigations that the FBI closed administratively in CY 2014 were closed because the FBI established that the death was due to causes other than homicide; i.e., accidents, suicide, or death due to natural causes.
  • In 2014, the USAOs resolved more cases than in 2013. In 2014, the USAOs resolved 535 more cases than in 2013. A total of 3,930 Indian country matters were resolved in CY 2014, as compared to 3,395 cases in 2013.
  • The USAO declination rate remained steady. USAO data for CY 2014 show that 34% (989) of all Indian country submissions for prosecution (2,941) were declined. In CY 2013, USAOs declined approximately 34% (853) of all (2,542) Indian country submissions for prosecution. USAO data for CY 2012 indicate that just under 31% (954) of all Indian country submissions for prosecution (2,542) were declined.
  • The most common reason for declination by USAOs was insufficient evidence (59.6% in CY 2014, 56% in CY 2013, and 52% in CY 2012). The next most common reason for declination by USAOs was referral to another prosecuting authority (16.3% in CY 2014, 21% in CY 2013, and 24% in CY 2012).

Jacobson Law Group Associate Attorney Job Announcement

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to job announcement here.

Jacobson, Magnuson, Anderson & Halloran, P.C. (the “Jacobson Law Group”) is one of the premier Indian-law firms in the United States.  It seeks an attorney for a shareholder-track position at a small, collegial firm.

Nez Perce Legal Assistant Position Announcement

Sarah M Donnelly

The Nez Perce Tribe Department of Legal Counsel is recruiting for:  

LEGAL ASSISTANT II  HR-15-186  full-time regular.  The position entails organizing legal files and records, drafting legal documents and correspondence, legal research, interviewing of witnesses and litigants, proof-reading, maintaining attorney time records and court schedules, and other administrative requirements of legal office. 

The position is with an eight (8) member legal office located in Lapwai, Idaho, and provides exceptional compensation and benefits, including generous leave time, 401 (k) program and match, family health insurance, and more. 

Requires Associate’s degree in legal field of study or three (3) years of legal work experience in a law firm can be substituted for one (1) year of college.  A Bachelor’s degree in a legal field of study is preferred.  Requires ten (10) years of experience working for a high volume law firm.  Experience working with Indian tribes or tribal organizations preferred.  Pre-employment drug testing required.  Applicant must possess a valid driver’s license with the ability to be insured under the Tribe’s policy.  (If your driver’s license is not issued from Idaho; a Motor Vehicle Report (MVR) from the state your driver’s license is issued, is required with your application.)  

Must include a completed NPT application (available on www.nezperce.org).  Tribal preference applies.  INCOMPLETE APPLICATION PACKETS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.  Due Friday, December 18, 2015, by 4:30PM PST.

Mail to:

LEGAL ASSISTANT  HR-15-186
P.O. Box 365
Lapwai ID 83540-0365

Cross Deputization for Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and County Officers

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to South Bend Tribune article here.

Excerpt:

In the meantime, the deal will allow tribal police officers to enforce Indiana laws in St. Joseph County, including on the 1700 acres of Pokagon land near North Liberty and the 166 acres between Prairie Avenue, Locust Road and the St. Joseph Valley Parkway.

“With the Pokagon Band restoring the tribal village here in South Bend, we thought it was our duty to work with St. Joseph County to enhance public safety in this area,” said tribal Chairman John Warren.

At the Supreme Court: Contentious Questions of Tribal Jurisdiction in Dollar General v. Choctaw Nation of Miss.

Sarah M Donnelly

Link to Stanford Law article here.

Excerpt:

Let me give you an important example from this case, based on what Dollar General seems to think is its strongest historical argument. The company relies heavily on a couple of treaties with two Native nations in what is today Oklahoma—treaties that seem to strip civil jurisdiction over non-Natives from those tribes in particular. But those treaties are hardly representative of the history of even those two tribes, let alone all the histories of all of the over five hundred different federally recognized tribes. Soon after the handful of treaties referenced by Dollar General, the federal government began contemplating an Indian state in what was then Indian Territory, so it entered new treaties that explicitly granted this new Native government civil jurisdiction over non-members. Later in that century, Congress reversed course and, in creating the state of Oklahoma, abolished tribal courts there altogether. But only thirty years after that, in the 1930s, Congress changed policy again, and passed a law that permitted the re-establishment of tribal courts in Oklahoma. And this is just two Native nations over a span of eighty years. This single example, I think, suggests some of the challenges: we simply can’t distill centuries of change and contradiction into a single, unambiguous narrative.

Supreme Court Extends Preliminary Injunction in Akina v. Hawaii

Sarah M Donnelly

Documents and orders filed in the District court posted here.

Petitioner’s emergency application here.

Link to SCOTUS docket proceedings here.

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to approve Justice Kennedy’s preliminary injunction issued last Friday.  We will post further filings when they are made available.

General Counsel Vacancy with Hopi Tribe

Sarah M Donnelly1 Comment

Job description here.

More Hopi Tribe vacancies posted recently here and here.

The employment application may be obtained on the Tribe’s website. Questions may be directed to its HR office at 928-734-3212.