economic development – Page 29

Bob Miller on Reviving Private Sector Economic Institutions in Indian Country

August 2, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Robert J. Miller has posted “Sovereign Resilience: Reviving Private Sector Economic Institutions in Indian Country.” Here is the abstract:

Indian country in the United States is incredibly poor. Indian nations desperately need to develop reservation economic activities. Most tribal governments, however, are primarily focused on developing tribally owned businesses. This article argues for Indian peoples and governments to revive and regenerate their centuries’ old tribal institutions that promoted, supported, and protected private sector economic development and economies. Indian country and Indian peoples need to develop economic enterprises and activities in their homelands to ensure their sustainability by creating living wage jobs and adequate housing. Developing private sector economies, in addition to tribal public sector economies, will help create economic diversification on reservations, new businesses and jobs, protect from economic downturns, slow the “brain drain” that all rural areas suffer, and promote more spending which will help Indian country benefit from the “multiplier effect” as more and more money is spent, and re-spent, on reservations.

Materials in Williams v. Big Picture Loans LLC [Lac Vieux Desert Ojibwe Enterprise]

July 31, 2018May 6, 2019Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Williams v. Big Picture Loans LLC (E.D. Va.):

23 big picture mtd jurisdiction

27 big picture mtd exhaustion

29 tribal officials mtd

83 opposition to 23

86 opposition to 27

87 opposition to 29

99 reply in support of 23

100 reply in support of 27

101 reply in support of 29

146 dct order

Update (4/17/19) — Here are materials in a related matter, Weddle v. Williams (D. Colo.):

1 Motion to Quash Subpoena

11 Motion to Transfer Motion

12 Response to Motion to Quash

17 Reply in Support of Motion to Quash

18 Response to Motion to Transfer

19 Third Party Motion to Intervene

20 Notice of Third Party Joinder

22 Reply in Support of Motion to Transfer

24 Response to Motion to Intervene

26 Third Party Reply

27 DCT Order Granting Motion to Transfer

Update (5/6/19) — Here are updated materials in Big Picture:

341-motion-to-compel.pdf

368-opposition.pdf

395-reply.pdf

478-dct-order.pdf

Troy Eid on Energy Development and Tribal Consultation

July 25, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Troy Eid has published Beyond Dakota Access Pipeline: Energy Development and the
Imperative for Meaningful Tribal Consultation in the Denver University Law Review.

Federal Circuit Rejects Tribal Immunity in Patent Litigation

July 20, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in St. Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals:

18-1638.opinion.7-20-2018

Briefs here.

United States Attorney Initiates Forfeiture of Nearly 45,000 Cartons of HCI Smokes and other property

July 19, 2018July 25, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the pleading captioned United States v. 2015 Dodge Ram 350 Truck (D. Neb.):

complaint

Update — here is the amended complaint now captioned United States v. 2005 Freightliner M2106 Box Truck (D. Neb.):

amended complaint

NYTs Profile of Navajo Nation’s Bid to Purchase Recently-Bankrupt Remington Gun Company to Bring Biz to the Reservation (and force the company to invest in smart gun tech)

July 17, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here. An excerpt:

The Navajo Nation’s plan for Remington was novel: It intended to shift the company away from its consumer business, including curtailing the sale of the AR-15-style weapons frequently used in mass shootings, to focus on police and defense contracts.

The tribe planned to use profits from those businesses to invest in research and development of advanced “smart guns” — those with fingerprint or other technology intended to prevent anyone but the gun’s owner from using the weapon. Smart guns have so far failed to make much headway at the major gun manufacturers, which have faced pressure from groups like the National Rifle Association.

It’s not clear that the tribe’s proposal would have worked, of course. But the Navajo Nation would have had an advantage in sales for police and military contracts. Not only must a certain percentage of government business go to minority-owned companies, but the Native American Incentive Act also confers certain other advantages, according to the American Bar Association.

The only guns the Navajo Nation planned to sell to consumers were long guns like rifles and shotguns used by hunters.

“Navajo is a community of veterans and people of the land,” the tribe’s lawyer, Drew Ryce, said in an email. “We are indifferent to the AR-15 and happy to leave that business behind.”