Saginaw Chippewa v. NLRB Cert Petition

Here:

Saginaw Cert Petition and Appendix- Filed

Questions presented:

For more than sixty years, the National Labor Relations Board correctly declined to exercise jurisdiction over tribal operations on tribal lands. But in recent years, the Board has belatedly asserted the extraordinary power to regulate the on-reservation activities of sovereign Indian tribes, precipitating a three-way circuit split in the process. Nothing in the text of the National Labor Relations Act changed in that interval; it contains no language granting the Board authority over Indian tribes. Nor has the language of various Indian treaties, like those between the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and the United States, changed; they continue to recognize the Tribe’s authority to exclude non-members. And despite the Board’s complete lack of expertise in Indian law, the Board now dictates that some tribal operations are subject to the NLRA and others are not based on its evaluation of the centrality of certain functions to tribal sovereignty and subtle differences in treaty language. 

This case presents two questions, both of which have divided the courts of appeals:

(1) Does the National Labor Relations Act abrogate the inherent sovereignty of Indian tribes and thus apply to tribal operations on Indian lands? 

(2) Does the National Labor Relations Act abrogate the treaty-protected rights of Indian tribes to make their own laws and establish the rules under which they permit outsiders to enter Indian lands?

Lower court materials here.

 

Little River Band v. NLRB Cert Petition

Here:

Little River Petition and Appendix COMBINED

Question presented:

Whether the National Labor Relations Board exceeded its authority by ordering an Indian tribe not to enforce a tribal labor law that governs the organizing and collective bargaining activities of tribal government employees working on tribal trust lands.

Lower court materials here.

NLRB Affirms NLRA Violations against Casino Pauma

Here are the materials:

Administrative Law Judges Decision June 4, 2015

Pauma Brief

NLRB Counsel Answer Brief

Board Decision

We posted on this case here.

Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Report on Tribal Labor Sovereignty Act

Here:

CRPT-114srpt140

Sixth Circuit Denies En Banc Petition in Soaring Eagle Casino Resort v. NLRB

Here:

2015 09 29 Order Denying Petition for Rehearing En Banc

En banc petition materials here.

Sixth Circuit Recalls Mandate in NLRB v. Little River Tribal Government to Allow for Cert Petition

Here:

2015 09 24 Uopposed LRB Motion to Recall and Stay Mandate

2015 09 29 Order Recalling Mandate

Sixth Circuit Denies En Banc Petition in NLRB v. Little River Tribal Govt; Saginaw Chippewa En Banc Petition Remains Pending

Here is the order (Judge McKeague dissents):

CA6 Order Denying Rehearing En Banc

En banc materials in both cases here.

Sixth Circuit En Banc Petition Materials in Little River & Saginaw Chippewa v. NLRB Cases

Here are the materials in NLRB v. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Government:

LRB Motion

LRB En Banc Petition

NLRB Response to LRB En Banc Petition

NCAI Amicus Brief

SCIT Amicus Brief

* note: the NLRB also seeks en banc review

And here are the materials in Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort v. NLRB:

Saginaw Chippewa En Banc Petition

NCAI Amicus Brief

Little River Ottawa Sixth Circuit En Banc Petition

Here are the new materials in NLRB v. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal Government:

LRB Motion

LRB En Banc Petition

CA6 panel decision here.

Split Sixth Circuit Panel Affirms NLRB Jurisdiction over Saginaw Chippewa’s Soaring Eagle Casino

Here is the opinion:

2015-07-01 Soaring Eagle Decision

Briefs here.