Lecture

LCC Talk — Son-Non-Quet Gould — Nov. 27

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

“HOW AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES WERE POLITICALLY RECREATED IN THE 20TH CENTURY”

Or

“HOW AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES CAME TO BE”

Presented by Son-Non-Quet Gould

Okema (Chief) of the Swan Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan

At this presentation Mr. Gould will examine the tribal policies of the 19th and 20th Centuries, and their ramifications for American Indians. He will be giving special attention to the Wheeler-Howard Act or the Indian Re-Organization Act of 1934.

Okema Son-Non-Quet (Gerald) Gould has taught American Indian Studies at Central Michigan University, Saginaw Valley State University and Lansing Community College (HUMS 225, Great Lakes Native American History and Traditions) and been a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Mott College, the National Council of Social Studies, the Michigan Council of Social Studies, the State of Michigan and a Cub Scout Pack in Grand Ledge, Michigan. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University, former Fellow at Michigan State University in Native American Studies and Visiting Fellow at Harvard University on Michigan Indian Tribal Governments and Constitutions.

Mr. Gould is of Anishnaabeg (Ojibwa) ancestry, and is currently Okema (Chief) of the Swan Creek Black River Confederated Ojibwa Tribes of Michigan, a State Historic Tribe (de Lac Ste. Claire, Anchor Bay and Lac Nipissing Tribes of Michigan). He is also the Great-Great Grand Son of Okema Pay-me-quo-ung, (1813-1888), Tribal Chief of the Swan Creek Black River Ojibwa Tribe (Signatory to the Treaties of 1855 and 1864).

In his role as Okema, Mr. Gould has testified before the United States Senate Select Committee on American Indian Affairs and the U.S. House Resources Committee on American Indian Affairs. Mr. Gould is currently a thirty-two year senior staff member with the State of Michigan.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 4:30 PM,

ROOM 205 B, A&S Building, LCC

(next to the Kennedy Cafeteria)

 

Presented by the CIIE, Center for International and Intercultural Education Office,

Dr. Stephen Appiah-Padi, Director

For more information, call the CIIE at 517-483-9963 or 483-1006 or email hayhoe@lcc.edu

Supreme Court Preview @ MSU Law College, Tuesday at 3:30 PM

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I’ll be giving a talk tomorrow at the law college at the behest of the MSU chapter of the ACS: a preview of the 2007 Term of the Supreme Court.

Here’s a preview of the preview — namely, a list of the cases I plan on discussing tomorrow, with links to briefs and other materials as available:

Boumediene v. Bush (No. 06-1195)
Al-Odah v. Bush (No. 06-1196)

Al-Odah Petitioner’s Brief

El Banna Petitioner’s Brief

Boumediene Petitioner’s Brief

Respondent’s Brief

Baze v. Rees (No. 07-5439)

Cert Petition

Crawford v. Marion Election Board (No. 07-21)
Democratic Party v. Rokita (No. 07-25)

Crawford Cert Petition

Rokita Cert Petition

District of Columbia v. Heller (No. 07-290)

Cert Petition

Lower Court Decision

FCC v. Fox Television Stations (No. 07-582)

Cert Petition

United States v. Williams (No. 06-694)

Petitioner’s Brief

Respondent’s Brief

Reply Brief

Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker (No. 07-219)

Cert Petition

Medellin v. Texas (No. 06-984)

Petitioner’s Brief

Respondent’s Brief

Reply Brief

Danforth v. Minnesota (No. 06-8273)

Petitioner’s Brief

Respondent’s Brief

Reply Brief

Oral Argument Transcript

Carcieri v. Kempthorne (No. 07-526)

Lower Court Decision

Cert Petition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

“Tribal Extinction” Panel — This Friday

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Tribal Extinction: Enrollment Issues in the 21st Century – featuring Marilyn Vann and Mike Phelan

The Native American Law Students Association and the Center for Diversity Services will welcome two speakers on Friday, November 9 to discuss perspectives of tribal enrollment, a controversial issue at the forefront of Indian Law and Constitutional Law. The event features guest speakers Marilyn Vann, recently disenrolled from the Cherokee Nation and lead plaintiff in the Cherokee Freedmen cases, and Mike Phelan, counsel for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. The event begins at 6:30pm in the Castle Board Room on the 3rd floor of the MSU College of Law. Dinner will be served and all are welcome. Please contact Melissa Velky with any questions at velkymel@msu.edu.

 

Details about the Cherokee Freedmen (and others) are here.

 

All the documents filed in Vann v. Kempthorne are here.

Sherman Alexie @ EMU Tonight

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sherman Alexie will be speaking in Ypsilanti at the EMU Student Center Grand Ballroom at 5 PM. His talk is: “Sherman Alexie: Without Reservations: An Urban Indian’s Comic, Poetic & Highly Irreverent Look at the World.”

Native Heritage Month at MSU

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

You can download the calendar here: MSU Native Heritage Month Calendar

Highlights include Pat LeBeau’s talk on mascots on the 7th and NALSA’s panel, Tribal Extinction, featuring Marilyn Vann of the Cherokee Freedmen, on the 9th.

Winona LaDuke to Visit Ann Arbor — Nov. 12

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Sponsored by: The Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs and the Trotter Multicultural Center as part of

Native American Heritage Month

 

Winona LaDuke

 

United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People

 

November 12, 2007

7:00-8:30PM

 

Trotter Multicultural Center, Lounge

1443 Washtenaw Ave.

(10 minute walk from Diag)

 

Winona LaDuke is an Ojibwe activist, environmentalist, economist and writer. In 1994, Time Magazine named LaDuke one of the nation’s 50 most promising leaders under the age of 40.

LaDuke was named Woman of the Year by Ms. Magazine in 1997 and won the Reebok Human Rights Award in 1998. Additionally, she ran as the Green Party’s vice presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000 with Ralph Nader.

At the age of 18, she addressed the United Nations for the first time and we are fortunate enough to have her with us as she offers some of her thoughts on the significance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

 

The flyer is here: Winona LaDuke Flyer

Talk Announcement: “Factbound and Splitless: The Impact of the Certiorari Process on Federal Indian Law” @ UM Law School

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Your humble blogger will be giving a talk at the University of Michigan Law School (co-sponsored, I understand, by the U-M NALSA and the Michigan Journal of Race & Law) on November 12, 2007 at 12:20 PM in Room 150 of Hutchins Hall.

My talk will be called, “Factbound and Splitless: The Impact of the Certiorari Process on Federal Indian Law.”

Here’s the blurb I gave the students on this talk:

I have reviewed each of the 144 Indian law-related cert petitions filed in the Supreme Court from the 1986 to 1993 Terms. Tribal interests began losing 75 percent of their cases in the Court starting in 1987, a significantly worse win rate than even convicted criminal petitioners. I argue that the critical factors the Court looks for in deciding whether to grant cert — “circuit splits,” cases of national “importance,” and cases that are not “factbound” — create structural (and yet wholly discretionary) barriers to the vindication of tribal interests in Supreme Court adjudication.

If you want to read the documents I’ve read in this study, check out the Digital Archive of the Papers of Harry A. Blackmun. And bring your docket numbers, because that’s how it’s organized.

American Indian Law & Lit Speakers Profile — Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

We are pleased to welcome Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic to East Lansing this weekend. They will be presenting a talk entitled, “Crossover.”

They are both very prolific writers and have been pioneers in the development of Critical Race Theory. And Richard has published several articles related to Indian law and policy, see, e.g., here and here. Jean and Richard co-authored a recent book of law and literature, “How Lawyers Lose Their Way: A Profession Loses Its Creative Minds” (Duke, 2005).

MSU NALSA Panel: Cherokee Freedmen

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

On November 9, 2007, MSU’s Native American Law Students Association will be hosting a panel discussion on tribal membership issues in light of the Cherokee Freedmen controversy.

The speakers include Marilyn Vann, the lead plaintiff in Vann v. Kempthorne (D. D.C.), and Mike Phelan, in-house counsel for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. Mike’s talk will be a more general discussion of the law of tribal membership.

Materials about the Cherokee Freedmen dispute are available on Indianz.com here. My own take on the question is here and here.

NAGPRA Talk

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

In perhaps the best-titled Indian law talk in recent memory, Jace Weaver will be lecturing at the University of Arizona’s law college on “Nag, Nag, NAGPRA: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Return of the Repressed.”

ArizonaNativeNet likely will post the video of the talk online and it’s worth checking out.