Tulsa World here.
SCOTUSblog here.
Indian Country Today here.
ICWA
Tulsa World: Discussions in Baby Girl Case End Without Settlement (Updated)
Here.
Before proceeding with the appeal, the state’s high court required last week’s mediation conference at the Court of Civil Appeals in Tulsa, where the families spent five days in negotiations and returned to the courthouse Monday morning for less than an hour.
The case now goes back to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
ETA: Additional information with statement from Cherokee Nation Attorney General. It appears that the OK Supreme Court lifted the stay. Here.
“This order, just like any other order from a foreign jurisdiction needs to be filed for domestication with the Cherokee Nation District Court,” said Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree. “There is a conflicting Cherokee Nation order concerning a Cherokee Nation citizen on Cherokee Nation land. We are a sovereign nation with a valid and historic court system.
“As Attorney General, I will require that our court system be honored and respected. I took an oath when assuming this office to uphold the laws and constitution of the Cherokee Nation and the United States. Nowhere in that oath is it required that I defend the laws of South Carolina.”
SCOTUSBlog Petition of the Day: Nebraska v. Elise M.
Here:
The petition of the day is:
12-1278Issue: (1) Whether the Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. §§ 1901-63, prohibits a state court from considering the “best interests of the child” when determining whether “good cause” exists to defy the transfer of an ongoing child welfare case; and (2) whether ICWA requires a state court to treat a motion to terminate parental rights as a “new proceeding” for the purposes of determining whether “good cause” exists to defy the transfer of an ongoing child welfare case.
Possibly a candidate for a CVSG.
Article on Judge Thorne’s Retirement from the Bench
As a side note, Judge Thorne spent the last few days in Montana, doing an incredible job encouraging the tribes and state to work together to find ways to achieve better outcomes for Indian kids. Given the work he plans on doing in his retirement, we think “retirement” should really be in quotes. Which is lucky for all of us.
Tulsa World: Still No Negotiated Settlement
Tulsa World: Judge Confirms Mediations Are Underway
Article here.
The settlement judge informed the Tulsa World at mid-day Thursday that negotiations were ongoing but that no final agreement had been reached.
It was the first confirmation that this week’s mysterious proceedings were a mediation conference, where legal disputes are settled by negotiations.
Latest Tulsa World Article on Baby Girl Case
This is the third day of hearings. Proceedings are still under a gag order.
Deconstructing the Baby Veronica Case, Implications for Working with Fathers in Indian Child Welfare Practice, Upcoming Event
This event will be held on October 29, 2013 at the University of Minnesota.
After looking at the list of presenters and panelists, I am certain this is going to be a very interesting, informative, and probably lively event.
Presenters
Judge William Thorne
Utah Court of Appeals
Chrissi Nimmo
Assistant Attorney General of hte Cherokee Nation
Mark Fiddler
Attorney representing the Capobianco Family
Erma J. Vizenor
Chairwoman, White Earth Nation
Panelists
Terry Cross
Executive Director
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Essie Leoso
Mary Boo
Assistant Director
North American Council on Adoptable Children
Moderator
Sarah Deer
Assistant Professor of Law, William Mitchell College of Law
Here is the registration link.
Latest from Tulsa World on Baby Girl Case
Veronica Update from WaPo
Here (h/t How Appealing).
An excerpt:
The late justice Robert H. Jackson famously wrote of his colleagues on the high court: “We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.”
But sometimes the court is final only in the narrow question of law before it. That question decided, it sends the case back to lower courts, where sometimes the whole process starts anew.
Such is the fate of Veronica’s case. If anything, the Supreme Court’s decision has only heightened the stakes surrounding the rights of birth parents, the legal standing of adoptive parents and the sovereignty of Native American tribes.
Turtle Talk 
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